Ranma Neko
by Thrythlind
Summary: Chapter 4 completed. What happens when you take a werecheetah trained in the Neko-Ken and introduce him/her to the Diggers sisters? Why, he/she becomes two werecheetahs trained in the Neko-Ken!
1. A Neko Surprise

Kasumi as she played with a young cheetah cub

I got the idea, and some of the text (sparring with Genma, Kuno's trap) for this fic from The Man in Shadows' Ranma with Spots fic...it was found at the "[Ranma and Co. Crossing Bridges][1]" web site

Ranma looked across the clearing at his mother, curious as to what kind of training she had planned for him. She hadn't even brought the sword with her, which was a relief, Saotome-Ryu taught staff and nunchaku, and Ranma had never felt it necessary to learn anything else. He hadn't ever seen his mother fight either, so he wasn't really sure on what she had to teach him.

"So what kinda technique is this yer gonna show me?" Ranma asked.

"It is more of a heritage than a technique," she said. She was looking through her pack for something.

"Heritage?" Ranma asked, curiously.

"Yes," Nodoka said. "You see, we are among the last survivors of a clan. And the enemies of that clan are still in the world. So, rather than risk them discovering us, I took steps to hide what we are from the world. Until you were old enough to protect yourself at least."

Ranma scratched his head in confusion, and thought about what she had just said.

"Hide what we are?" Ranma said. "What do you mean by that?"

"Ranma, you have heard the stories about men and women who can become animals?" she asked, and then stopped Ranma as he was opening his mouth. "And I do not mean Jusenkyo curses, I mean willing, natural shapechanging." Ranma crinkled his eyes closed for a moment and considered that.

"Akane was watchin' some American horror flick," Ranma said finally. "Called the Howlin'. Werewolves and junk like that. That what you are talking about?"

"Yes," Nodoka said, distastefully. "I know the movie. And that is sort of what I mean, without the cannibalism. Then again, it was wereWOLVES, so maybe..."

"Are you saying I'm a werewolf or something?" Ranma asked, feeling moderately insulted at the idea of being a werewolf.

"No," Nodoka said firmly. "Werewolves would not like to have anything to do with us. Except, perhaps, kill us." She finally pulled a thermos from her pack and nodded before going to her story.

"Huh?" Ranma said. "Why not?"

"A few decades ago, Ranma," Nodoka started. "The last major clan of werewolves on Earth invited the last clan of werecheetahs to come live with them as a form of mutual defense and benefit. Then, for some reason, the werewolves slaughtered every werecheetah they could find." Ranma winced.

"We are of that werecheetah clan," she said. She paused and looked at her feet, sighing. "I was not there, my family was, including my first husband and first child. There was only one survivor, and she was adopted by an American family in Atlanta Georgia."

Ranma felt a sudden wave of sadness and loss at that statement. To think that he had an older brother or sister that he never got the chance to know. And obviously his mother was very distraught, and that hurt him enough as it was. He moved over to hesitantly hug and comfort her, feeling awkward as he did so.

~Don't know about that stuff though, seemed kinda silly,~ he thought.

"Thank you, dear," Nodoka said calmly. She took a deep breath to continue. "After that I was drunk, and I remained drunk for years. At some point I met your father. It was a match made in a sake jug." 

Nodoka smirked in a manner that reminded Ranma uncomfortably of some of the looks his fiancees gave him. Some of them anyway. Then she sighed and shook her head.

"It got better after that," Nodoka said. "With Soun, Kimiko and most importantly my husband. He was so cutely gallant when he offered to marry me after I got pregnant. I especially liked the way he pretended my sizeable bank account at the time didn't matter." She said it in a cutesy voice.

"Uhh," Ranma started. "You like Pop, right Mom?"

"Of course, Ranma," Nodoka said. "But it's so fun to tease. If he really only cared about the money he would have stayed with me, wouldn't he?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Ranma said. Nodoka smiled, and then sighed again.

"Then you were born," Nodoka said. "Luckily there were only three witnesses to your first change. Kimiko, Kasumi and me. That's when things became a little more tricky. If the werewolves realized that their job was incomplete..." She left the statement hanging.

"Kasumi knew?!" Ranma gasped. Nodoka nodded.

"I swore them to secrecy," Nodoka said. "Even from you. And then I took you to a mage to have you locked in your current form. I couldn't risk you or Genma realizing your true form. He means well, but he can be fairly idiotic at times, and a child would not understand the seriousness. I'm pleasantly surprised that Kasumi kept her secret actually." Ranma nodded. "Then I made the seppuku contract with your father. I wanted you away from me, if they were to find any werecheetahs, it would be me. And I wanted Genma to have a good motivation to train you to exceptional levels."

"It worked," Ranma said dryly.

"Yes," Nodoka said taking a thermos out of her pack. "I see it has. I still apologize though."

"Err, that's okay," Ranma said. "What's that?"

"This is the potion that will break the lock on your forms," Nodoka said. She handed it over towards him.

"Uh, okay," Ranma took the thermos and looked at it doubtfully.

"Trust me," she said. "If you can survive Akane's cooking, there is nothing in this that will hurt you, or even make you sick."

"Oh," Ranma said with a smirk.

"Do not tell her I said that, or you will be sorry," Nodoka warned teasingly.

"No way I'm gonna get Akane mad at you," Ranma said. He took a deep breath and drank the potion. "So what's a cheetah anyway?"

Nodoka blinked at the comment. That she had not foreseen.

"It'll be better to show you," Nodoka said. "Think about strength and speed and power, but mostly about speed."

"Yeah, I can do that," Ranma shrugged. It sounded just like channeling chi from sounds of it.

"Before you do," Nodoka said. "You might want to change into that gi, you'll get quite a bit larger." Ranma blinked and looked over at the clothing and shrugged. A minute or two later, after changing in privacy he started listening and following his mother's directions.

With his eyes closed he could feel the fur and tail growing and his ears changing. He felt stronger, tougher, faster, and his senses were more acute. He heard his mother's voice change. He could smell...Ranma froze and hesitantly cracked open his eyes.

"Is something wrong, Ranma," Nodoka asked nervously. She had grown, and now sported a white and yellow fur coat with a host of black spots. Large triangular ears darted out from the side of her ears, laid back in trepidation. A long tail flicked behind her in a manner that Ranma couldn't help but recognize. And there was another one around somewhere, he could smell it.

"C...c...c...CAAAAAATTTTT!!!" Ranma screamed as he zipped from his seated position and slammed into a tree. He fell back unconscious, fainted mostly. Nodoka felt a cold chill run down her back as she rushed to tend to her side.

"He was afraid of me," Nodoka whispered as she checked him over.

*********************************************************

Ranma slowly blinked awake and rubbed his head as he sat up. Immediately he was on his guard, that cat smell was still there. Maybe that catwoman that replaced his mom was still hanging around.

~Wait,~ Ranma thought. "MOM!!"

"I'm right here, dear," Nodoka said nervously. Ranma turned to see her sitting down to his side, watching him, concerned.

"Man," Ranma said in relief, uncomfortable with the sound of his voice. "I thought that cat-chick had gotten you. But there's still one around here." His eyes returned to scanning the area in panic again.

"Ranma," Nodoka said. She stood up and carefully placed her arms around his shoulder. For some reason Ranma felt a little more frightened as she did it. For some reason, he was taller than her now. "Come with me, dear."

"W...w...what?" Ranma asked nervously. She led him to the still pool at the edge of their campsite and directed him to look at its surface and his reflection. His cat-like reflection.

"You and I are the only cats around," Nodoka said quietly. "Ranma." She gasped as Ranma started shaking in her arms.

"Ca...ca...ca…" Ranma muttered repeatedly. Nodoka turned him to face her and watched Ranma's eyes glazing over and rolling back in his head. 

Nodoka did the only thing she could think of and pushed him back into the pool. The shock of the transformation instantly brought her son, now daughter, to awareness and Ranma sputtered to the surface of the pool looking about frantically.

"What the," Ranma gasped. She found her mother staring at her worriedly. "What the, Mom, did you just say..." Nodoka cut off his speech.

"I need you to think about your human form," Nodoka said, obviously concerned. "And turn back to that. Just think about what you look like normally."

"Oh...ohkay," Ranma said nervously, smelling wet cat somewhere. It was actually surprisingly easy to concentrate on the change, seeing as how much she wanted to ignore the rest of the current situation. When she was down her clothes were trying to swim away from her.

"Ranma," Nodoka said cautiously. "Could you come back to camp and tell me about your fear of cats?"

"Oh...ohkay," she whispered, staring up in fear at Nodoka. ~It's all true. I didn't just dream it. I...I'm a c...cat!!!~

*********************************************************

The first sign the Tendo household had that Ranma was back home was the red and black blur zooming through the house. Akane and Nabiki blinked in confusion, and then Akane glowered a little angrily.

"He didn't even say ANYTHING!" Akane muttered angrily. She got up to follow and give Ranma a piece of her mind. And stopped when the unusual sight of an enraged Nodoka stalked into the house. Unusual not in the severe, angry expression on her face, but rather in that she was currently wearing a baggy gi that was just a bit too large for her.

"Have you seen my husband?" she asked coldly as she noticed Akane.

"He's playing shogi with my..." Akane blinked and paused as Nodoka stalked past her and headed for the tea room. "...Dad."

"GENMA!!!" Nodoka shouted. "Can you come with me for a moment? I have to show you something." Akane had entered the doorway just in time to see Genma blanch in fear. Then Nodoka grabbed him by his big fluffy ear and started dragging him away from the shogi board.

"Is something wrong Auntie?" Kasumi asked hesitantly coming into the room.

"Excuse me, Kasumi," Nodoka said angrily. "I have to talk to Genma about how is training methods conflict with my son's birthright." Kasumi looked confused for a moment and then blinked in shock.

"I thought that was just a story," she gasped. "Oh my, the Neko-ken." Nodoka nodded grimly as Genma produced a sign reading "What birthright?"

"I'll need some privacy," Nodoka said dragging her husband with her into the furo and slamming the door behind her. Kasumi nodded and followed to stand outside the furo door to make sure they weren't bothered.

"What is going on Kasumi?" Akane asked, Nabiki fading in behind her with an appraising look on her face.

"What kind of birthright would cause anymore of a problem with the Neko-ken?" Nabiki asked.

"I'm sure Auntie Saotome will tell you when she feels you're ready," Kasumi said. Right after that Genma's scream could be heard from inside the bathroom. Akane and Nabiki sweatdropped.

"This won't threaten the union of the schools will it?" Soun asked. Most people ignored him.

*********************************************************

"How could you do that!?" Nodoka growled at the panda in her fists. "How could you do that to a little child?" Her eyes went to the sign in his hand.

"It was a supposedly unbeatable technique," Genma said. "And it's proven useful in the past. Besides if he's like you it couldn't kill him, could it?"

"I had him locked in human form you!" Nodoka said. "And all his powers so nobody would have figured it out. If you had killed him, he would have been dead!"

"Well, he's alive and probably the best martial artist in the world now," Genma said desperately.

"And terrified of himself!" Nodoka snapped.

"Well, I didn't read the part about that," Genma said, trying to excuse himself. Nodoka leaned into his face growling.

"Didn't...read it..." Nodoka asked.

"It was hidden on the last page," Genma said. Nodoka rose a furry hand to her face and sighed.

"Is there any other training method that would seem insane that I should know about?" Nodoka asked wearily. Genma blanched.

*********************************************************

"You did WHAT?!" Nodoka shouted from inside the furo. "YOU IDIOT!!"

"I'm guessing he's giving Nodoka a rundown of how he trained Ranma," Nabiki said.

"Are you INSANE!!"

"Most likely," Akane agreed.

"GAHH!! You make me SICK!!!"

"Akane," Kasumi said, looking definitely nervous. A shocking sight on its own.

"YOU...

"Yes?" Akane asked hesitantly.

"...SADISTIC..."

"Wow, she's so mad she's hissing and growling," Nabiki said, impressed.

"...DAMN..."

"I think you should check on Ranma," Kasumi said. "I think he may have learned something that shook him badly." Akane nodded and started edging away from the door.

"...BASTARD!!!!"

*********************************************************

"Ranma, are you okay?" Akane asked quietly. Thankfully most of the yelling was muffled to the point of it just being background. She found Ranma packing his few belongings and felt a pang in her heart.

"I'm going to have to go," Ranma said shakily. "I gotta kick this c...cat thing."

"W...why now?" Akane asked.

"I don't know if I can tell ya yet," Ranma said. He shrugged apologetically. "I'm not sure you want to know."

*********************************************************

"Are we sure that's Auntie in there?" Nabiki asked as the language started getting more colorful.

"I'M GOING TO CUT YOUR HEART OUT WITH A SPOON!!"

"I thought she wanted privacy," Soun noted nervously. The yelling stopped and Nodoka opened the door still looking pissed. She glanced at Kasumi, mouth twitching into a sneer.

"Kasumi, I'd like to talk to you," Nodoka said. Kasumi blanched. "I'm not angry with you, dear."

"uh..uh…Of course not," Kasumi responded. She followed the still stalking Nodoka up to her room. Nabiki and Soun stared into the furo to see the panda fainted against the wall. They could see the bruises through the fur. For once Nabiki decided that now was not a good time to eavesdrop further.

*********************************************************

"I need you to tell me everything you can about the Neko-ken," Nodoka sad tiredly and quietly, slumping into Kasumi's chair as soon as the door closed on the hallway. "Ranma was sketchy and I don't trust myself not to kill Genma when he wakes up."

"Okay," Kasumi said hesitantly, and proceeded to tell what she knew.

"Akane can calm him down in this state?" Nodoka asked.

"Yes," Kasumi said. "She is the only one that can apparently."

"I shall have to include her then," Nodoka said. "It is a miracle I haven't already lost him to this...insanity."

"There may be a problem with that, Auntie," Kasumi said. "The other fiancees. Shampoo is still out searching for where you went with Ranma, but Ukyou is going to be a problem."

"Do you see any other option?" Nodoka asked. "My son could fall into that and run off and we'd probably never find him."

"The change snaps him out of the Neko-ken as well, Auntie," Kasumi reminded her. "You could buy some squirt guns." She shrugged.

"I'll still want Akane to be ready to help," Nodoka said after a moment. "Do you think she can keep this a secret?"

"I think she can, yes," Kasumi said.

*********************************************************

Akane turned nervously as she heard the door opened, and sure enough, found Nodoka standing in the doorway. She no longer looked enraged, just bone-tired and depressed.

"Kasumi tells me that Akane can control the Neko-ken," Nodoka said simply. Ranma and Akane both nodded. "I think Ranma and I will need your help, Akane. If you can accompany us to my home? I'll explain things there."

"What about," Akane swallowed. "Uncle Saotome?" Nodoka frowned.

"He is going to stay here," Nodoka said firmly. Akane flinched at how cold Nodoka's stare got as she said that.

*********************************************************

"So what's up sis?" Nabiki as Akane came back home looking somewhat pale.

"I can't say," Akane said to Nabiki's disappointment. She looked to Kasumi who nodded quietly before turning back to watch the television with the rest of the family. Akane shivered and headed to her room.

She was relieved to find P-Chan in there. She didn't want to talk to Kasumi quite yet, but she still wanted to talk about this.

*********************************************************

Ukyou frowned as she approached Akane. This was the fourth day in a row without a real fight between her and Ranma. And Ranma was still acting like there was a cat in every shadow. Ukyou glanced once more to check and see that Ranma was still busy with Kuno.

"What's up with Ranma, Akane?" Ukyou asked point blank.

"I can't tell you, Ukyou," Akane said with a trace of hostility.

"Let's put the attitude aside, sugar," Ukyou responded. "This Ranma we're talking about, we've both cooperated when he's in trouble before."

"And then you threw bombs at him," Akane said angrily.

"I was aiming for you," Ukyou said cooly.

"That makes it so much better," Akane grumbled.

"Hmph," Ukyou sighed. "Serves me right for following one of that Amazon's plans."

"I'm being lenient in my opinion," Akane growled, uncomfortably noting how close it sounded to a real growl. ~I wonder if there's anything hidden in our family.~

"I'm sorry, Akane," Ukyou said. "Next time I challenge you it'll be honestly, skill versus skill with a challenge letter and everything. That good enough?"

"For now," Akane said. She stood up to walk away.

"So what's going on?" Ukyou asked, refusing to accept the rebuff.

"I'm NOT telling you Ukyou!" Akane snapped then stomped away pointedly.

"Well, we'll see about that," Ukyou muttered.

*********************************************************

"Okay," Nodoka said. "Are you ready, Akane?"

"Yes, Auntie," Akane said nervously. She hadn't been needed yet, but that didn't mean she was calm about it. She'd seen the Neko-Ken, and the idea of Ranma falling into the state with even greater physical strength and speed was terrifying.

"Go ahead and change, Ranma," Nodoka said.

"H...hai," Ranma nearly whimpered. He was starting to be able to accept his hybrid form, though he still couldn't really get comfortably close to his mother. And there was the problem he had with shedding. If he didn't regenerate then he'd be bald in under twenty minutes. 

As Ranma changed forms they all heard a gasp and turned to see Ukyou peeking into the room. The chef dropped from sight just before Nodoka shifted into her hybrid and went out after her. Ranma of course, leaped for the ceiling and leaving Akane to coax him down as gently as she knew how to do with Ranma.

"Ranma would you get back down here!!" 

"Ca...ca...cat..." Ranma whimpered.

"Come on, Ranma!" Akane sounded moderately frustrated, "It's your mother!" 

"I...I...know," Ranma said hesitantly after a moment. He dropped to the ground and started to sit down.

"Please don't shed on the furniture, dear," Nodoka said, coming back in.

"Oh, sorry," Ranma said getting off the chair to sit on the floor.

"Baka," Akane said with clear affection. She turned to see Nodoka set down not one, but two other kids. "Oh, Konatsu's here too."

"I wouldn't have known if he hadn't moved to protect Ukyou," Nodoka said. She switched back into human form and turned to her captives. "I suppose we need to explain some things to you."

"Are you going to kill us?" Ukyou asked quietly. Nodoka started laughing.

*********************************************************

It was Sunday morning and Genma stood in the lot, waiting for the person who had left a note on his bed the night before. Who ever it was had left hair all over the way he had come in. It was hardly the work of a master of the art. Besides that, Genma was expecting to resume a bit of his son's training that afternoon. 

~At least No-Chan didn't deny how effective a trainer I am.~ With that thought Genma puffed up with pride. Even with a few slight pitfalls, he had managed to raise a fine martial artist. ~So what if he's got a few minor social problems. He can still beat anyone around.~

Someone tapped his shoulder and Genma turned around. "About damned tim..." Genma found himself eye level with the man's chest. ~Uh-oh...~ He slowly looked up to a face that had a mix of feline and human features. 

"Hi Pop." 

Somehow, Genma hadn't put two and two together until this moment. After seeing Nodoka's hybrid form he had thought she was upset because he was afraid of her. The idea that the trait may have been inherited hadn't occurred to him. After all, men inherited their traits from their fathers, right? It's obviously what made them men instead of women.

~Oh shit.~ On this thought, the eyes rolled back into Genma's head and he passed out. 

********************************************************* 

Genma slowly opened his eyes. "Hey pop, are you okay?" 

Quickly the old man bolted right up and grabbed Ranma's shoulders. "You're not going to kill me now? Please, I'm not ready to die!" Genma broke out into Soun style crying. 

"Pop, I'm not here to kill you. I just have to get used to my new form, and I needed to spar with you."

"Why with me? You going to make this look like an accident," asked Genma. 

"Of course not! Pop, if I was here to kill you, I would have done it by now!" Genma thought about that bit of logic. Then he relaxed. "Just don't tell anyone about this secret." 

"I'm not suicidal boy. I have a fair idea of what your mother would do if I told the town." 

"So pops, we goina spar?" 

Genma smiled. "You're still no match for me, boy." 

Ranma smirked and assumed a loose cat stance. Sadly, he was still shivering. Genma meant to capitalize on that. But Genma didn't notice his own shaking. Ranma may have seemed nervous, but Genma had no doubt, Ranma could rip him apart.

*********************************************************

Ranma took to the rooftops after he had finished sparring with his father. It wasn't overly satisfactory, he was far more capable than his father now. Still he had gotten fairly used to his new body, still preferred the old one though.

He stopped as he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. He perched on the roof ledge to figure out what to make of the situation.

*********************************************************

~We're toast,~ Lydia was thinking. ~Lord High Elder Gothwrain is going to kill us.~ It was quite possibly true too.

"I told you this was like, you know, a bad idea," Moisha whispered.

"Who's the one that wanted to get some cheap anime?" Romeo asked.

"Well, like if you guys," Moisha said. "Were gonna, you know, insist. Then I might as well..."

"SHUT UP!!!" Lydia and Romeo shouted together, before turning back to the source of their concern.

"Like rats in a trap," the little boy in the back of the group said with a smirk. "This is very fortunate, I wonder what I can do with wererat DNA."

"Like, how'd he know we were wererats anyway?" Moisha asked.

"Oh wait, wasn't he the little twerp that got caught in the store hold of the ship we were on?" Romeo asked.

"Enough talk," a fuming Erwin shouted. "Daishi, Zelda take them, and I want enough left for a DNA sample!"

"Of course, Lord Talon," Daishi said coolly, professionally.

"Just try it, jerk-off," Lydia said defiantly. "We've been taught by one of the deadliest swordsmasters in the world." 

"And where are your swords?" Zelda asked with a smirk, cracking her knuckles.

"We weren't going to need them," Romeo said. "Remember. They're on the way to America."

"Oh, we are like, screwed," Moisha sighed. Still, this wasn't Brittany Diggers, so they weren't totally intimidated. "We can't even, like, you know, transform on this street. Unless we want to be killed."

*********************************************************

Ranma watched the battle begin and snorted at the three kids. He could by the stance that they were weapons-users, and ONLY weapons users. To the point that a common brawler would have the edge of them in battle. Still they had potential and they seemed to be the victims in this. He turned his attention to the other characters.

The man with the glasses seemed to use all chi, but it didn't look like chi. Then he remembered something his mother had said about spellcasters, and suddenly the man had a high ranking in the target list. The bald woman looked fairly clumsy, but something told him she wasn't quite the push over she seemed. That left the ninja, easily the most dangerous of the lot in a fight. Ranma leaned back and took a moment to thought.

"Good exercise," he muttered, smirking.

*********************************************************

The first sign of the newcomer was Ionis's legs being kicked out from under him. The magician, used to the fighters being targeted first and thus giving him a chance to escape, went down hard. Erwin whipped around toward the sound of Ionis falling and saw a blur.

"Mom, says I gotta learn how to fight in this form," a voice said in Japanese. "Might as well practice against a pack of jerk bullies."

"We're saved!" Moisha cried out. Turning to her comrades to translate the Japanese.

"What the heck was that!?" Zelda demanded.

"Ionis," Erwin asked nervously. "Can you hear me?" Ionis took the chance to stare at the birdies.

"Strike from the dark like a coward?" Daishi declared. "Stand and fight, fool!" Truth be told he was impressed that he still couldn't find the attacker, even knowing he was in the area.  
  
"Sure," Ranma said, stepping down from the rooftop he had bounced to. Everyone stared in mild shock at the new werecheetah.

Except the rats and Erwin.

They looked downright terrified.

"We are doomed," Lydia said.

"It''s a kid," Zelda said after a moment. "And he's just standing there!"

"Daishi, uh Zelda," Erwin said nervously, now that his normal exit trip was still somewhat out of it. "Get him!"

"Easy Lord Talon," Zelda declared. Ranma didn't know what she was saying, but he read the confidant expression easy enough and shrugged with his own smirk. Ranma's appearance was marginally marred by the fact that he was still shaking like a leaf.

"Do not be so confident," Daishi warned circling around wide of his partner. "His stance is exceptional."

"What stance?" Zelda demanded charging forward, and found herself punching through a phantom. Ranma, meanwhile, almost casually ducked past her and twirled past the strike Daishi managed to get off. He paused standing next to the rats, in a stance between them and Erwin's cohorts.

"You guys might want to get some unarmed training," he said. "Ain't gonna be someone to save your butts all the time, now get out of here, I'm gonna have some fun with these guys."

"Uhhhh..." Moisha said flabbergasted as Ranma turned back Zelda and Daishi.

"Sho Ryu Kick!" Daishi shouted. The werecheetah dodged out of the way as Zelda was leaping at his back, obligingly taking the attack. Daishi blinked and moved to follow Ranma's path. Now that the battle was actually going, Ranma didn't seem to be shaking at all.

"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!!" someone shouted behind Daishi, followed by a blindingly fast series of light taps to all the vital points on his back. Daishi growled and whipped around to strike his opponent and caught a glimpse of Ranma flashing under his arm.

Zelda stood up shakily after taking that kick and saw a blur coming past Daishi and stop. 

With his back to her. 

Zelda smirked as she assumed the boy must have thought she was out of action. She charged forward and choked as the boy simply pivoted allowing her past him. 

Which was about the point she saw Daishi's roundhouse. 

The one that would have hit the boy's head.   
  
Zelda went flying across the street into a wall. Everybody looked at the woman for a moment as she stood up again. Ranma whistled, impressed.

"Tough ain't she?" Ranma asked.

"I am Daishi, boy," the ninja proclaimed. "You should not be playing with me."

"Why not?" Ranma asked. "I need the practice, my reflexes are really off with the added height and weight." Daishi's eyes widened and then narrowed again as he flashed his hands forward.

"HADOKEN!!!" he shouted, Ranma barely sidestepped, smirking as he heard Zelda cry out.

"You know, I have to thank you," Ranma taunted. "I don't like to hit girls." 

Daishi actually growled before he charged forward. Ranma smirked as the ninja came forward. He continued to give the ninja what he had named the Akane treatment until he felt the woman about to make another attack against him. 

Zelda gasped as this time her target just totally vanished from sight. Then she got punched in the face. Daishi would have been insulted that he had been tricked into striking his comrade...again. But he was too busy being insulted at the featherlight amaguriken to his back.

"What did he say," Romeo asked Moisha.

"Get out of here," she said nervously.

"Why aren't we?" he returned.

"My feet won't move," Lydia whimpered.

"Okay, maybe its time for some strength exercises," Ranma said. Daishi's eyes widened and then he launched forward, throwing his hands out.

Ranma saw it coming before the chi was completely gathered. He was ready to dodge away when he saw those three kids still frozen behind him.   
  
"GADO!!" Daishi started. Ranma turned toward the wererats. "BEAM!!!" And then he was rushing away from the beam.

"HE'S COMING TO KILL US!!!!" Romeo shouted stumbling to his feet. The two girls huddled together, not even noticing the chi blast coming behind the cheetah. Well they noticed, they just thought it was the werecheetah's doom gaze in full power.

"Is this, like, gonna hurt?" Moisha asked.

"A lot," Lydia confirmed.

"Oh, bye then," Moisha said.

"Goodbye Moisha," Lydia whimpered. Then Ranma was on top of them. "AAAAAAHHHH!!!"

"Goodbye cruel world," Romeo muttered. Then the girls were being thrown over one of Ranma's shoulders, and Romeo over the other. All four virtually took flight just as the Beam washed through and blasted through a building.

"Completely annihilated," Daishi declared as his attack faded away. Until he noticed the shadow on the ground, just before a pair of feet smacked him into the concrete. Ranma set the wererats down and, deciding to stay in a theme, took the unconscious ninja and smacked him into the unsteady Zelda.

"Have we landed yet?" Romeo asked as flopped on his back. "Make it stop spinning."

"Is this what death feels like?" Lydia wondered herself as Moisha, being sort of top heavy, at least until you hit her head, fell next. 

"I'm gonna be sick," Moisha whimpered.  
  
"Go play with an erector set or something kid," Ranma said. Erwin fainted and Ranma rolled his eyes. "Hey, you three, don't you speak Japanese? I said get outta here, did you WANT these jerks to kill you?" 

"We're...alive?" Romeo asked sitting up. Ranma took a step toward them.

"RUN AWAY!!!" they shouted and high-tailed it out of the area, in unsteady lines that would make Ryouga look like he knew where he was going. Ranma blinked and shrugged.

*********************************************************

"Did you have a good practice session, Ranma?" Nodoka asked dryly. Ranma scratched his head and laughed nervously. He had started shedding as soon as he saw her.

"Uh yeah," Ranma said. "Pop ain't near my level anymore. But I got a little bit better used to this body." 

Nodoka arched an eyebrow and pointed the multi-remote at the television, turned the power on and started the VCR playing. Ranma swallowed nervously as he watched himself humiliating those jerks from earlier.

"Yes, I saw that," she said. "I notice you were not scared in the actual battle."

"I was helping those three..." Ranma blinked. "I wasn't?"

"Not from what I could tell," Nodoka said. "And you didn't start shedding until you saw...me." She sighed.

"I...I'm sorry," Ranma said.

"That isn't your fault Ranma," Nodoka said. "But next time do try to be a little more discreet, please?"

"Oh kay," Ranma answered weakly.

*********************************************************

Ryouga sighed pitifully as he saw the news come on in the electronics store he was passing. Apparently it was true. Ranma was a werecheetah, and Ryouga knew how you became a werecreature. You had to make a deal with an evil demon or something, or was it that you were bitten by one. Whatever, werecreatures were evil, and they had to be destroyed. For their own good as well as everyone else's.

"Ranma," Ryouga sighed. "It looks like I still have to kill you."

*********************************************************

The Amazons returned to town too late to catch the news, but by then the gossip was already full of the existence of a werecheetah in town. Of course none of them had to be reminded of the damage that Iceron's creations had done to the Amazons so long ago. This was because there was a law on the books insisting that all werecreatures be destroyed on sight, and they didn't bother to ask why it was there.

*********************************************************

"YOU GUYS HAVE TO SEE THIS!!!!" Brianna shouted into the intercom as she pushed the remote to start recording the story. It was useful having a computer set up to digitally record shows. "Turn on the news!!"

"What are YOU doing watching the NEWS, Bri?" Gina asked over the intercom.

"Never mind that, just do it!" Brianna said.

"What's the big fuss?" Brittany asked as she came into the room. She stared at the screen and, before seeing what was in the center, spotted something else. "Hey, it's those wererat jokers that put that collar on me." Then she glanced at the fight, and her jaw dropped.

"Bri," Gina called over the intercom. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yep," Brianna said. "It's a werecheetah, and he's kicking the shit out of Pee-Wee's Playmates."

"Wh...where is this?" Brittany asked.

"Japan," Brianna said.

"Do you think Stripe's up for a little trip, Brittany?" Gina asked over the intercom.

"I...don't think he'd mind."

*********************************************************

Kuno watched as Ranma came over. It was their usual fight before school. In the boken wielder's mind, a plan had been hatched, and it had been waiting for months, for the time to use it. Now was time to strike. 

"Daemon most foul, how dare thy show thou cowardly hide in these hollowed grounds after cowering for so long." 

Ranma set down his bookbag. "What the hell are you talking about?" 

"Where I hath been preparing for encountering the Demonic Werecreature, thou hath not been seen. Dost thy quake within thine own shoes." 

"Shut up, Kuno. I was sparring when he was seen. Besides he saved some people. He's a good guy." About the place, students of Furinkan High saw the wisdom in this. And others wondered what the hell the two were talking about. 

"Of course thou wouldst say such things. Thou must be in league with the fiend. Well, have at thee," Kuno shouted as he took a stance. Ranma, being too frustrated, moved foreword to deliver a quick blow, when the ground below his feet flipped. The last thing the students saw was Kuno tossing fish sausages at Ranma before the hole sealed itself. 

"Ranma," cried out Akane and Ukyou. 

"And now, it doth end," simply said Kuno. 

********************************************************* 

Ranma sat up and groaned. "Now what..." There were furry things crawling onto him, to eat the fish sausages. 

"mew..." 

*********************************************************

Kuno advanced towards Akane. "Now the sorcerer hath been vanquished. Come to me my love." 

Ukyou and Akane threw Kuno aside as they ran to the pit. Suddenly, the revolving trap door was slashed in half, and both girls took a step back. The side of the trap door fell into the pit, making a slight ramp. 

Suddenly a cheetah came out of the pit, with a kitten hanging from it's mouth. It set it on the ground, and went back in for another. 

The student body collectively let out an, "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww," as the cheetah brought out the cats and kittens that were in the pit. Still there was no sign of Ranma.

Ukyou looked in and saw Ranma's shredded clothes on the floor of the pit. Ukyou quickly started damage control. "Kuno, you sent Ranma into a deeper NekoKen!" The gasp from the students was audible. "Do you want him to go nuts or something?" 

"It would serve the cur, justly," retorted Kuno. 

Ukyou turned to see Ranma and Akane sitting by a small group of kittens that weren't moving. "What's wrong with them," she asked in a timid voice."

Akane looked up with a few tears in her eyes. "They're starving!" 

"The foul cur! I'll smi-" Kuno was cut off by a viscous blow to his gut, by Akane, causing him to fall to his knees. 

"They could have starved to death, you bastard!" Students started to back her up. 

Kuno slowly looked up to see the slowly forming mob behind the two women and the cheetah. Then Ranma threw in his two cents, as he lunged at Kuno.

Kuno found himself under assault from a vicious beast. It clawed and bit at him. Things were looking pretty bleak, 

when suddenly Kuno was saved when several students threw Ranma off of Kuno. 

"I thank you my-" Kuno was cut off as the mob proceeded to beat the living daylights out of him. 

********************************************************* 

Miss Hinako was running late. This didn't make her happy. It meant that she couldn't be able to punish those students who were late. It also meant she's look for the reason like a hungry wolf.

She rounded the corner and ran into the room to see only Akane and Ukyou at their seats, with a large group of cats and kittens. Also there was a rather large Cheetah. Hinako's eyes went wide at the sight. "OH! CUTE!" She lunged foreword and hugged the first kitten she could find. 

Akane and Ukyou looked up from where they were feeding starved kittens with baby bottles. Ranma simply stretched out where he lay, looking very lazy. At this point, snapping Ranma out of the Neko-Ken would be pointless. 

Then Hinako looked up from the very cute kitten. "Pet's aren't allowed in school." 

"Kuno was starving them," countered Akane, while Hinako searched for a coin. 

"We couldn't just let them starve," added Ukyou. 

Hinako looked horrified. "He starved kitties?" 

"Just so he could make Ranma insane." 

Akane bit back her comment about Ranma already being crazy and pointed at Ranma. "Now Ranma's in a deeper Neko-Ken." 

Hinako couldn't help but scratch Ranma's head. Ranma purred to Akane and Ukyou's jealousy. "Where is Kuno now?" 

"Everyone else formed a lynch mob," Akane said, "But Kuno got away." 

The kitten in Hikano's arms started to cuddle up to her and the teacher giggled. Both Ukyou and Akane relaxed. It wasn't likely that they'd get zapped that day. 

********************************************************* 

At the end of the day, Akane was starting to get sick of how Ranma was following her around. Ukyou was also getting sick of how Ranma followed Akane around. However Ukyou had to head off to her restaurant and open up. But she did it reluctantly! 

As Ranma and Akane made their way to Ranma's house, Ryouga watched from the shadows of an alley. He drew his umbrella and twisted the handle a bit. A long and sharp blade slid out. It's silver edge gleamed as he left the safety of the shadows and started moving towards Ranma. As he ran foreword, he shouted, "PREPARE TO DIE, RANMA!" 

Ranma, whom had heard this shout way too often, shot foreword like a bullet. Unfortunately this course took him right between Akane's legs. As she fell foreword, she instinctively grabbed onto Ranma's neck. 

Ranma seemed to have unnatural strength as he kept on running like mad. The wind rushed by as the three passed Ranma's house and kept on going. 

*********************************************************

Nodoka watched from the window as Ryouga attacked Ranma and Ranma made his rapid escape. Nodoka let out a groan as Ryouga shouted, "PREPARE TO DIE, RANMA!" 

~Great... Ranma wasn't ready for his feline form yet. And how did Ryouga find out that Ranma was a werecheetah?~ Another groan escaped Nodoka's lips. ~Where there is one werehunter, there's more right behind the idiot.~

*********************************************************

Ranma came to a stop 2 minutes later. Akane had a death grip on the large cat. It took her a few moments to relax and let go. As she looked about she recognized the place as a park that was 15 miles away from Ranma's home. She plopped down on the grass and tried to catch her breath

Meanwhile Ranma's mind had returned to what passes for normal and he took a look at himself. [OH CRAP!] After a full minute of shedding, Ranma calmed down. [Okay... I'm a c-c-ca-cat with spots... a Cheetah... I knew I could do this... But why am I in this form. Last thing I remember was falling into a pit of...] Ranma put a paw over his face and groaned. 

"Great," mumbled Akane. "Now how do I get home." Ranma looked at Akane, who had her back turned to him. A smile passed his feline features. [Fun time.] He slapped her shoulder with a paw and ran 10 feet away. 

"HEY!" Akane turned and glared at Ranma. "Baka!" 

Ranma ran foreword, slapped her shoulder and ran back. 

"That a challenge or something?" Ranma did it again, but this time he bopped her on the head. "That's it!" Akane lunged at Ranma. 

Ranma took off at an slow jog. At least it was slow for him. For Akane, it was hell to try and keep up. 

*********************************************************

"Are we there yet?"

Gina sighed as she drove past a nice park. 

"No, not yet." 

"I'm bored," complained Brianna. 

Gina sighed. "We'll be there soon." She looked into the rear view mirror. Brittany was staring at her side of the road with anticipation. Stripe did the same on his side. "You two holding up okay?" 

"Yeah," replied Brit. "Think there's really another werecheetah out there?" 

"If there is, we'll find em'," assured Gina. The whole group failed to notice a girl chasing a Cheetah, right behind them. 

********************************************************* 

Ranma suddenly stopped at a corner just as Akane was running out of breath. She stopped and sat down, trying to recover said breath. Ranma gave her an odd look. Then he looked at him self and made a big show of seeming like it was the first time he saw himself. 

"You okay Ranma?" He nodded numbly in reply. "Good. Now how do we get home?" Ranma turned his back to her and sat down. After a minute he looked back impatiently. "You want me to ride on you?" He nodded again. Akane sighed and got on his back. "Okay." 

Ranma took off at high speed. [This isn't half-bad... Mom said something about a technique allowing me to change forms at will. I better learn it because I like this!] As Ranma ran, he grinned. 

"Slow down you baka!" 

*********************************************************

"Damn that, Ranma," Ryouga growled. He had obviously carried Akane off to have his evil way with her. Ryouga paused and thought about that comment. "I've been hanging around Kuno too much. No wait, Ranma is an evil perverted..." Ryouga's rant was cut off by the clanging sound of a sheet of strong metal connecting with someone's skull.

"Watch what you say about my Ranchan, jerk," Ukyou snapped angrily.

"But Ukyou!" Ryouga started.

"Don't 'but Ukyou' me!" Ukyou said. "Ranchan has enough problems without you on his back."

~She would never believe me,~ Ryouga sighed dejectedly. It was up to him alone, to vanquish Ranma now that the martial artist had obviously made a deal with the dark powers. Ryouga shook his head, and to think he had actually been starting to think Ranma wasn't all that bad a guy. ~Still, of all the things he could have been why a wereCAT?~

"Are you going to stand in my shop's door all day?" Ukyou asked irritably. "You're scaring away all the customers."

"Gomen, Ukyou-san," Ryouga said and started running off in the direction he thought Ranma had gone. He had to save Akane from what the fiend had planned.

"What an idiot," Ukyou thought as she watched Ryouga run back the way he had come.

*********************************************************

First Brittany and then Brianna snapped to attention in their seats. Both sniffed at the air, a slowly building ecstatic expression over taking their faces.

~Oh no,~ Stripe and Gina thought almost at the same time.

"TUUUUUUNNNAAA!!!" both girls shouted. "Stop the car, Gina!!"

"Think about it you guys," Gina said desperately. "People KNOW there is a werecheetah around here and demented little munckin geniuses that use dirty underhanded tactics to get revenge."

"You think this might be a trap?" Brittany asked.

"It is a distinct possibility," Stripe said. 

"Someone is putting out a load of tuna just to attract any werecheetah that happens by?" Brittany frowned but appeared to think about it. Brianna, on the other hand.

"Even better!!" 

"Oh come on," Brittany said. "It's probably just a sushi joint, that would have to be the stupidest trap that I've ever heard of. Who could come up with such a stupid idea."

*********************************************************

"No doubt this will bring the evil fiend running straight into my trap," Mousse cackled wildly. As he stared at the piles of opened tuna cans in the middle of the table in the abandoned storefront. The sound of the car pulling up outside alerted him to newcomers.

He faded back against the wall as two voices started chanting "Tuna" in cutesy voices. As he watched as two blurs dashed into the store front. Well one dashed, the other stopped at the door and glanced around.

"Brianna, wait!" one blur shouted. "Gina's right, it's a..." 

Brittany squinted her eyes closed as Brianna snapped through a veritable net of tripwires. Enough so that Brittany KNEW that Brianna should have seen them. The next she heard was a series of loud explosions circling around where Brianna had run off towards.

"BRIANNA!!!" Gina shouted as her sister was obscured by the explosions and smoke.

"Huh?" Mousse said. "That's not supposed to happen." He scratched his head and stepped out. 

It was a mistake.

"YOU KILLED MY SISTER!!!" Brittany shouted angrily, picking up and slamming him against the wall. "I'M GOING TO TEAR YOUR SPINE OUT!!!" Mousse wasn't certain what the tall, hairy girl was saying, but it sounded bad.

"Don't do it," Stripe said moving to try and pull his wife off the boy.

"Yeah!" Gina said. Everybody glanced at her in surprise. "Because I want to experiment on him BEFORE you rip him to pieces!"

"Mmmmm, tuna!" a satisfied voice said from behind them. Everybody turned to see the smoke drifting away to reveal Brianna sitting on the table, suddenly wearing a set of high tech shoulder pads with small rotating turrets.

Brittany dropped Mousse and rushed at Brianna. The rotating turrets locked on the movement and swiveled toward her.

"SHUT DOWN!" Brianna shouted before they fired. Then she was in a crushing bear hug.

"Brianna! You're alive!!"

"gaahhhsp!"

"Cheetah, dear," Stripe said. "You're crushing her."

"Oh, um," Brittany set down her sister and looked embarrassed. "How the hell did you live through that?"

"Point-defense anti-projectile system," Brianna said, indicating the now deactivated turrets. "Called it up just before going through the trip wires."

"Brianna, why not just use a force field generator?" Gina asked. "It's smaller, proven, easier to use and doesn't produce a stream of loud disturbing explo..." Gina's face turned deadpan as Brianna grinned widely. "Oh." The silence was broken by the sound of an empty tin can hitting the floor.

"You ate...ALL the tuna?" Brittany said in shock. Brianna nodded. "I'm about to avenge your brutal and messy death, and you didn't save me ANY?!" Gina stared as her youngest sister shook her head and licked her lips.

"Déjà vu," she said quietly. 

Then Brittany lunged again. 

At Brianna.

"I'm gonna kill her!!" "Brittany stop!" "HOLD HER!! HOLD HER!!" "IT WAS A JOKE!! Come on Cheetah!! It was a joke!!" "I'll show you a joke!!"

Mousse took the moment to slip out of the store.

*********************************************************

Ranma paused at the sound of fighting and he and Akane watched as Mousse snuck out of an abandoned store front that seemed to be producing a lot of smoke and noise. When the martial artist turned toward them, Ranma got ready to run.

"Unryu Akari-san," Mousse said suddenly. It was a girl riding a giant animal, so who else could it be. At least with her, he was never wrong.

"Uhh…yeah," Akane said, not wanting to call attention to the fact that she was on a cheetah while a werecheetah was hanging around. "What's going on?"

"Crazy American blew up my werecheetah trap and now they're fighting over the tuna, gotta go before they realize I'm not there." With that the blind martial artist skittered off leaving a nervous looking Akane and Ranma in his wake.

"I think we should talk to your mother," Akane said. The cheetah under her nodded and then surged forward.

The scents and sights in the area were somewhat clouded by smoke and dirt, so neither group noticed each other, other than Ranma and Akane listening to shouts of: "I'll buy you some more, all right?!" Ranma smelled something like a cat nearby and shivered, hurrying a little further along before he analyzed the smell further.

A few minutes later a cross Brittany came out with Stripe followed by Brianna rubbing her head and mumbling to Gina.

"Sheesh," Brianna muttered. She looked around and sniffed at the air.

"You both realize that we let that creep get away," Gina asked.

"That was a little immature," Stripe said discreetly next to Brittany.

"I just got scared all right," Brittany said. She stopped and sniffed the air. "Brianna, do you smell that?"

"Yeah," Brianna said grimly after a moment.

"Smell what, you guys?" Gina asked. Brittany and Brianna sighed and traded a look.

"A werecheetah walked by while we were in there!!!" They shouted. Gina blinked and looked down at the ground, she leaned down and came up with a few hairs.

"Looks like they're shedding," Stripe said.

"Follow the hair balls!" Gina declared.

*********************************************************

"Hello Akane," Nodoka said as the Tendo girl opened the gate to let in Ranma. The cheetah formed boy approached hesitantly. "Ranma, how did you end up like this?"

"Somebody at school," Akane said. "Tricked him into a pit of cats.." Nodoka sighed and winced at that. She looked and saw Ranma shedding

"Is this the neko-ken now?" Nodoka asked sadly.

"I don't think so," Akane said. She turned a glare on the cheetah next to her. "He's been his baka self since about half an hour ago or so." The cheetah stuck its tongue out at her.

"Please be more polite," Nodoka said. Akane started to smirk. "Both of you." She reached out to scratch Ranma's head. The cheetah visibly tensed and the shedding got worse, though it was obvious that Ranma was trying to ignore the fear.

"Sorry, Auntie," Akane said watching Ranma's reaction as his mother tried to gently show him she meant know harm. At least, show that part of him that was infested with the memory of hundreds of yowling cats. She was fairly certain that Ranma did not consciously believe she'd hurt him.

"It is not your fault," Nodoka said. Show hoped that petting Ranma like this would calm him down. As the shedding started getting worse she relented and backed away from Ranma reluctantly. "So how did Ryouga learn about Ranma?"

"I have no idea," Akane said. "I haven't talked to anyone." She paused. "Except my pet pig." Ranma let out a feline, frustrated groan. Nodoka noticed that and resolved to speak to Ranma about it later. "I doubt Ukyou would, but Ryouga's always getting lost in funny places, maybe he saw you guys change once."

"I suppose that could be it," Nodoka said. "Come with me, Ranma, we need to see about getting you back to your human form. Akane, will you be all right getting yourself home?"

"Oh, sure, Auntie," Akane said, shrugging. "I'll see you tomorrow Ranma. And next time don't go so fast!" She could almost see a shaky smirk on the cheetah's face. Nodoka waited for Ranma to get into the house before turning to Akane.

"You know, Akane," Nodoka said with her own smirk. "When Ranma learns how to pick out scents better, you're going to have more trouble in making those deceptions work." Akane blushed and laughed nervously.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Akane said.

"Of course not," Nodoka said and started for the house. Akane grumbled to herself, definitely not thinking about what it felt like to have her legs around Ranma. Akane walked out of the gate and noted the trail of fur where Ranma had started shedding again as they approached the Saotome house.

~Hmm, better do something about that,~ Akane thought. She grabbed a broom from near the gate and started sweeping it away. She finished quickly, sweeping just enough away to hide the trail, and then headed home, not noticing the group coming up the street.

It was about two blocks later that she realized that she had forgotten to put up the broom and headed back.

*********************************************************

"Gee, the shedding starts again," Gina said. "There must be something wrong here. I don't remember the last time you shed this much."

"I do!" Brianna said. "It was when Genn, Her and me were looking for..." Brianna glanced at Brittany's warning face and stopped. "Damn, I forgot about it."

"Uh huh," Gina deadpanned.. A couple minutes later they came to the end of the trail of shed fur, as a girl with blue-black hair was walking away from the area.

"Did he stop shedding?" Stripe asked. Then he noticed where the fur had been swept to the side. "I guess not."

"It can't be much further," Gina said. ~Unless some random person just swept the fur away from their walk.~ After a few more yards Brianna and Brittany stopped in front of a modest gate.

"He's in here," Brittany said. ~Another werecheetah. He could be even be family.~ She glanced over at Brianna, who was just as anxious about this as she was.

"Ready for this?" Gina asked.

"Don't worry, honey," Stripe said next to Brittany, massaging her shoulders. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Thank you, Muffin," Brittany said smiling back at him.

"What do you think he's like?" Brianna asked.

"Instead of asking," Gina said. "Why don't we go see?"

*********************************************************

Nodoka looked up from preparing dinner at the sound of someone knocking on the door. She started to call out.

"I'll get it," Ranma called out. 

In the kitchen Nodoka felt nervous for a moment, but relaxed and breathed out a sigh of relief that Ranma had managed to change back to human and that he felt okay enough to greet company.

~With my luck it'll probably be another of the local loonies with some sort of silver weapon,~ Ranma thought grimly. ~And if they see mom first...~

Ranma cautiously gripped the handle of the door and got ready for a fight. Through his mind was running a veritable catalog of moves that could be performed from a position that was no different from the one most people used in opening the door. Ranma was prepared for anything.

Anything except the two cat people on the other side of the door.

"Hello...I hope this doesn't sound too strange," the blonde in front of the two started.

"C...c...c...c...c...CAAAAAAAATTTTTSSS!!!" Ranma slammed the door shut, shattering it in the process, ran back into the house and vanished, somewhere.

Gina blinked and looked back at her sisters and brother in law.

"Uh…? What was that?"

"That was WAY faster than a human form should be able to move," Brittany said. Brianna cleared her throat. "Unless you're Brianna anyway. And he wasn't as fast you." Brianna nodded firmly, but she was still impressed.

Nodoka stepped into the hallway looking after where Ranma had vanished and then back at the door. She sighed as she saw the visitors, she calmly walked to the door and moved it out of the way.

"Brittany Elin Diggers, I presume?" She said wearily.

"Yeah," Brittany said. She stepped a little forward of Gina, holding Stripe's hand. "This is my husband, Stripe, and my sisters. Gina and Brianna."

"What was with that kid?" Brianna asked.

"I'll explain in a moment," Nodoka said. She turned to Brianna and Stripe. "Can I ask you to take your human forms while you're here?"

"I don't actually have any other form," Stripe said. Nodoka blinked, then nodded.

"Oh yes, I forgot you weren't a werecreature," she said. Then she sighed. "I don't suppose it matters then." She thought for a little longer. "If he can handle his full feline form, then this might be a good next step."

"Next step for what?" Gina asked. Nodoka frowned and sighed in resignation.

"The next step of curing my son of his fear of cats," Nodoka said simply, a little sadly. The four visitors found themselves with their faces planted into the ground.

*********************************************************

"Ranma, dear," Nodoka called softly as she walked up to his room. She heard someone shivering in the closet and quietly sat down outside of it. "Ranma, is that you in there?"

"Th...th...th...they're coming to get me," Ranma whispered. "The cats are coming to get me."

"No they aren't," Nodoka said, firmly. "Ranma, remember I told you that there was one other survivor to the werecheetah slaughter?"

"Y...y...yeah?" Ranma asked shakily.

"That's her downstairs," Nodoka explained. "She came to see us."

"S...s...she doesn't wanna marry me..." Ranma started. "Does she?"

"She's here with her husband, Ranma," Nodoka assured him.

"Th...the...oth...other c...c...cat?" Ranma asked.

"He's not a cat, Ranma," Nodoka said. "He's an alien that looks like a cat. There probably were no cats on his planet"

"Oh," Ranma said. ~That's a little better. Maybe.~

"I've already told them about your problem," Nodoka said. "I'm going to go down and tell them why after I finish dinner. If you don't want to come down, I'll understand, but I think it would do you some good to talk to another werecat. She may even be family."

"I'll try, okay?" Ranma said hesitantly.

"That's all I can ask," Nodoka said. "She'll probably be in her hybrid form, just so you are prepared."

"Okay, thanks," Ranma said. He still hadn't left the closet.

*********************************************************

Akane became concerned when she saw the door leaning against a wall on the inside of the building. She frowned and moved to the building to investigate.

"Auntie?" Akane called out cautiously, walking in through the doorway. "Nodoka, is everything all..." She froze on seeing the four people in the living room. One of them was tinkering with something that looked like a toy pikachu. Then there was the cat-person couple, and the normal-seeming blonde that looked vaguely bored and impatient.

"She's upstairs with your boyfriend," the girl tinkering said after recognizing Akane's scent. Akane's suspicions were derailed by the statement.

"Why would I want to marry that..." 

"I didn't say anything about marriage," the girl said, smiling and looking up. Akane realized that she had just blundered into the wrong statement. Now all eyes were on her.

"It's an arranged marriage." She muttered finally. "Since before we were born."

"People actually do that?" the normal girl asked.

"Who are you people?" Akane asked, remembering that they shouldn't have been there.

"Oh, Akane-chan, what are you doing back?" Nodoka asked, coming down the stairs. Akane started to answer, but Nodoka cut her off. "Never mind, it is a lucky occurrence. Could you go up and help Ranma? He's a little...nervous." Akane turned a narrow-eyed glance at the cat people.

"I wonder why," Akane muttered. The couple had the decency to look embarrassed. "Sure, I'll go see about calming down the baka."

"Thank you, Akane-chan," Nodoka said. She turned to her guests. "I was about to finish dinner for myself and my son, just let me check everything and I'll be right out."

"Uh, sure," Brittany said. Nodoka smiled and walked into the kitchen.

"Just how does a werecat become afraid of cats?" Brianna asked, doing something that would probably turn out to be disturbing to one of her peebos.

"I think we're about to find out," Gina said, glancing to the kitchen.

*********************************************************

"Hey, Ranma," Akane said as she walked into his room. She looked around cautiously and was surprised to see the closet door edge open.

"Akane?" Ranma asked.

"What are you doing in the closet?" Akane asked, putting a little challenge in her voice.

"What do ya think?!" Ranma demanded. "Hiding from the c...cats."

"These are your people, Ranma," Akane said. "I'm sure they just want to meet you, and get to know you. I can't imagine what it would be like to be one of the last of a race."

"I know," Ranma said. "It's just...they're c...c…cats, you know?"

"And for that you're just going to give up meeting new people?" Akane asked. She shook her head. "I can understand avoiding domestic pets and such, but these are people!"

"C…c.c.at people," Ranma corrected irritably.

"Well so are you, baka!" Akane shouted. Ranma winced. "Come on Ranma, You don't act like it very often, but you should know better than this."

"Know better than what?" Ranma asked.

"Than to think that people will attack you for no reason," Akane said. Ranma gave her a look. "People don't attack you for no reason." The look continued. "Name one time that someone has attacked you without reason."

"Kuno," Ranma said.

"Okay, somebody else," Akane said.

"Herb, Pantyhose, Ryouga, Shampoo, Ukyou, Kodachi, Hinako, Happosai," Ranma paused. "You."

"I only hit you when you're being a jerk!" Akane protested. "And you pick on Ryouga all the time, and..." Ranma continued giving her the look. "Okay, so that happens a lot, but still these AREN'T people here to fight you," ~I hope.~ "So this should be easier right?"

*********************************************************

Nodoka appeared and slipped a small folder off of a bookshelf. She sat down across from Brittany and Stripe and held the folder.

"While Ranma was a child I paid a mage to lock him in human form," Nodoka started. "I was afraid of the werewolves finding us and...finishing the job." She frowned and took a deep breath before continuing. "I didn't tell my husband what Ranma was to avoid having him push too hard, unfortunately I didn't consider the existence of this...monstrosity." She brandished the folder in her hands.

"What is that?" Brittany asked.

"It is a dangerous, and banned, martial art technique," Nodoka said. "My husband decided to train my son in it after he discovered Ranma's regenerative capabilities, without knowing where he got them."

Nodoka gravely handed the folder over to Brittany and gestured for her to read it.

"Neko-ken training manual," she read. She looked up. "The cat-fist?" She turned back to read and started to look green, somewhat impressive considering the fur.

"That sounds like it would be useful to a werecat," Gina said. "How do you do it?" Stripe, reading over Cheetah's shoulder answered.

"Wrap the trainee up in fish sausage and dump them in a pit of starving cats," Stripe said. Gina and Brianna stared at him blankly.

"His father actually did that?" Gina asked.

"Several times," Nodoka said quietly. "You've seen the results. I can't imagine what its like for him, becoming the worst monster out of his nightmares. To be something that you believe is a violent, treacherous beast ready to pounce somebody at random. Can you imagine that?"

"Ummm, sort of," Brianna said. Nodoka looked at her and blinked.

"How do you mean?" Nodoka asked.

"It was a curse," Gina said. "but our Dad took care of it." Nodoka turned interested.

"You're father got rid of a curse?" Nodoka asked, hopefully.

"Yeah, he's part of the conclave," Brittany said. "Why?" Nodoka recognized the name of the organization and hope began to rise.

"Excuse me," Nodoka said. "I'll be right back." She stood up, made a brief detour to the kitchen to double-check her dinner, and then went to Ranma's room.

"What, does she think Dad can get rid of a phobia?" Brittany asked.

"Maybe," Gina shrugged. "He might be able to, who knows." Gina noticed Brianna turning renewed and enforced attention to her tinkering. "Are you okay, Bri?"

"Yeah," she said. "Just don't like thinking about Grave Digger."

"Well, it's not like you've had any problems since then," Brittany said.

"Uh huh," Brianna said, and went back to tinkering.

*********************************************************

Ranma hesitantly came out of the room behind a frustrated Akane, and they saw an anxious looking Nodoka approaching the room.

"Ranma, I have some news," Nodoka said. "Their father might be able to get rid of the curse for you."

"What's that?!" Ranma and Akane said.

"Their father is a member of the conclave of wizards," she explained. "Some of the most powerful magicians in two worlds. He may be able to get rid of your curse."

"That sounds like a reason to talk to them," Akane said. "Doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Ranma said, nodding. "If it doesn't turn out to be a wash like all the other cures."

"There can't be any harm in trying," Nodoka asked. "Can there?" She knew otherwise, but in addition to getting rid of the curse, as Akane had said, this might help convince Ranma to talk to Brittany.

"I guess not," Ranma said. Also aware that there were plenty of things that could go wrong in seeking a cure.

"Okay then," Nodoka said. "I am going to go finish dinner, and you and Akane can talk to them while I'm setting the table."

*********************************************************

Ranma came hesitantly into the room glanced at the two cat-people and then turned to look away from them as he sat down. He focused, instead, on the floor, the not-quite-so-catlike blonde, the normal looking blonde. There was something vaguely cat-like about the larger of those two girls as well, but it wasn't so obvious as the cheetah and her, he glanced over long enough to see a pair of rings, husband.

"Your guys' father can get rid of curses?" Ranma asked. Akane rolled her eyes and bapped him upside the head as she sat down.

"You can be a little more polite," Akane said. "I'm Tendo Akane, I didn't bother to introduce myself earlier."

"We've been told about..." Cheetah shifted uncomfortably. "What's wrong."

"I'm Gina," Gina said and then pointed toward the werecheetah. "That's Brittany and her husband Stripe, and that's Brianna."

"Hey, that's a cute looking toy," Akane said suddenly. "What's it do?" The Diggers' family suddenly looked decidedly nervous, aside from Brianna.

"Well, I'm trying to get the explosion a little more focused," Brianna said. "There's still a lot of wasted energy going in the wrong directions. Hopefully it'll take less of them to destroy the targets, and then I can blow up that many more targets!!"

"Uhhhh," Akane said, staring at Brianna.

"Oh, and I'm trying to program it to find the guy that tried to kill me earlier," she added offhand.

"Would he happen to be a nearly blind guy with long hair?" Ranma asked, still trying to avoid looking at Brittany and Stripe.

"He had long hair and thick glasses," Brittany said, nearly growling. She stopped as she saw Ranma twitch.

"Sounds like Mousse," Ranma said, glancing at her and back at Brianna.

"You know that lunatic?" Gina asked, edging forward.

"Yeah," Ranma said. "He's one of the Chinese Amazons around here."

"You know where we can find him?" Brianna asked.

"At the Nekohanten," Akane said.

"I wonder if the Amazons have some sort of law for werecreatures or something," Ranma said wearily.  
  
"This is a way to get out of that engagement then," Akane said suddenly. Everybody looked at her, except Ranma who was shaking his head.

"Can't do that," Ranma said.

"Why not?!" Akane demanded angrily, standing up and towering over Ranma. Then she looked around and deflated. "Not that I care."

"What do you think would happen if they found out I was a werecheetah?" Ranma asked.

"If they're already trying to kill you, Ranma," Akane said. "How much worse can it get?"

"What about my mom?" Ranma asked.

"Ohh," Akane said.

"Excuse me," Stripe said, Ranma's head slowly, deliberately turned to face him. "Aren't you engaged to this Miss Tendo?" Ranma nodded. "And you're engaged to someone else?"

"Actually, Shampoo thinks we're already married," Ranma said.

"How'd that happen?" Gina asked.

"I beat her in a fight," Ranma said simply. "Accidentally. Sort of."

"How do you accidentally beat someone in a fight?" Brittany asked. "And how does that get you married?"

"Amazon laws." Ranma and Akane said together.

"If an outsider male beats an Amazon female, they're married," Ranma explained.

"That sounds like something Grandma would come up with," Gina said.

"Don't tell me you come from a tribe of warrior women," Ranma said pleadingly.

"Oh, our mother is greatest warrior on the world of Jade," Brittany said proudly.

"Hear that, Ranma," Akane asked, smirking. "A female martial artist the best on her world." Ranma noticed Brit narrowing her eyes and cricked his neck.

"Kiima would have driven that message home," Ranma said darkly. "If Cologne hadn't already."

"Maybe you could try to take me on seriously, then," Akane suggested. Ranma shook his head.

"How about me then?" Brittany asked. Ranma and Akane turned to stare at her, with wide eyes. Ranma immediately looked away.

"Bad idea!" Akane said. "You'd trigger the neko-ken. You have no idea the kind of damage that would do."

"Oh, yeah," Brittany said. "Sorry about that." She deflated and leaned back.

"You said trigger the neko-ken," Gina said, curiously. "You mean there's something more than being afraid of cats?"

"I get ta thinking I'm a cat," Ranma said.

"That doesn't sound so bad," Gina said.

"During which time I'm practically invincible and will try my best to tear into shreds anything that bothers me," Ranma added. Akane nodded.

"There was the time he used that fifteen foot shark as a chew toy," Akane said sagely.

"I take it you want our father to fix the Neko-ken then," Gina asked. Ranma glanced at her.

"Could he do that, too?" he asked.

"Too? What other problem is there that you got?" Brittany asked.

"Might as well get this over with," Ranma sighed. He stood up and walked to the kitchen.

"He has another curse?" Stripe asked. "And two fiancees?"

"Actually," Akane said irritably as Ranma vanished into the kitchen. "He has three fiancees, maybe more. His father's fault mostly." She admitted the last reluctantly. Brianna stared at her a moment and produced another peebo.

"What's he look like?" Brianna asked.

"Where'd the other of the things go?" Akane asked. Brianna shrugged. 

*********************************************************

"Hello, Ranma," Nodoka said. Ranma hesitated as he entered the kitchen. He took a breath and moved into the room with his mother. The martial artist noted that Nodoka was about to bring the last few dishes to the dining table. "How are you?"

"Uh fine," Ranma said. "I'm just about to show them the curse, you need help?"

"No, that's fine," she said. "I can handle setting the table, and this might be a way to cure you of your curse, so that is more important."

"Yeah," Ranma said. "Don't get your hopes up though, none of these ever seem to work."

"Can't just give up, Ranma," Nodoka said.

"Naw, I don't ever do that," Ranma said, drawing a glass of water. "Umm, this means I'm gonna be a girl for dinner don't it?"

"Ranma, I keep telling you that I have running hot water," Nodoka reminded him. "Just turn on the hot water tap. In fact you might want to pull a glass right now." Ranma flushed in embarrassment and poured a second glass of water.

*********************************************************

"So what else has this...person done?" Stripe asked. Akane had explained both the Daikoku and Kuonji engagements, as well as Genma's attempt to sell himself and Ranma to a circus, and she had just barely explained the fiasco with the "sickly" boy who wanted the panda.

"You'd have to ask Ranma," Akane said. "Or wait a couple of weeks. At least one of his mistakes will turn up by then." Ranma came back in and sat down next to Akane with two glasses of water.

"Okay, I'm gonna do this the short way, because mom's almost done with dinner," Ranma said. "This is what I want gotten rid of." He checked the water temperature and then poured the cool water over his head. The Atlanta gang blinked as Ranma shrunk into a girl, Akane noted that Ranma's hair didn't change color anymore. Looking closely, however, she noticed that his roots were blonde.

"Your father isn't a Rakshasha is he?" Brianna asked. Ranma blinked.

"No, it's a curse," Ranma said. She poured the second glass over her head and changed back to normal. "It's triggered by cold water, and hot water changes me back." Gina and Brianna huddled together and started whispering in English.

"Should we be worried?" Akane asked. Brittany smiled nervously while Stripe merely nodded.

*********************************************************

Shampoo watched the cute little robot roll into the Nekohanten and blinked.

"What is that?" Cologne asked seeing the small item.

"Is cute," Shampoo said. "Lost toy you think?"

"There seems to be something dangerous about it," Cologne said. Mousse walked in and saw a small, cute little blur on the floor.

"Oh my lovely, Shampoo!" Mousse shouted, scooping up the robot. "I'll get you some hot water right away!"

"This'll teach you to try and kill Brianna Diggers," the robot said in a synthesized voice. Then it exploded in an almost completely focused explosion that sent Mousse out the doors, across the street and through the fence, and then two walls after that.

Cologne and Shampoo watched the falling debris where the explosion had occurred. There was hardly any damage done. Apparently almost the entire force of the explosion had directed straight at Mousse. Brianna would have been happy if she had seen it.

"Shampoo think Mousse mistake girl for Ranma again," Shampoo said.

"That seems most likely," Cologne said, shaking her head.

Across the street, under a pile of rubble.

"Shaammmmpoooo….."

*********************************************************

"Guys, let's just talk to dad," Brittany said, in English. "Nothing fancy, okay? Please...guys?"

"Have there ever been any behavioral changes?" Gina asked Akane and Ranma.

"Like what?" Akane asked.

"Well," Brianna looked distinctly nervous. "Has he ever like, tried to...umm...kill everybody?"

"There was the mirror clone," Ranma said hesitantly.

"But that was a magical clone," Akane said. "Not you. Same with the separating incense. No, Ranma's never tried to kill everybody, but there was that one time."

"Oh, you're not going to tell that story are you?" Ranma pleaded.

"This is important," Gina said. "What happened?"

"Ranma once hit his head and thought that he was a girl," Akane said. "And he was a GIRLY girl."

"It never happened!" Ranma protested. "You're all lying!"

"Okay, thanks," Gina said and went back into the huddle with Brianna.

"Ohh…I know what they're going to do," Brittany said in English. "This could be bad."

"How bad?" Stripe asked.

"TO THE GINA-LAB!!!" The two inventors shouted together, sending a chill down the spines of everyone there.

"Dinner's ready," Nodoka called out. 

"After dinner," Brianna said. Gina nodded reluctantly.

*********************************************************

Brianna and Brittany stared at the dishes in a total lack of comprehension. They really had no place to complain, since they were rather unexpected guests, but it was still very surprising.

"Are we certain this is the right place?" Brianna asked Brittany, speaking in English.

"They're both werecheetahs," Brittany said. "But..."

"Where's the tuna?!" both girls asked as they sat down at the table. Gina gave them a frustrated look.

"Is something wrong?" Nodoka asked.

"Umm, no," Brianna said reluctantly. "What is this stuff anyway?"

"Well there's chicken, rabbit, some venison," Nodoka said.

"Venison isn't Japanese," Gina noted.

"No, but it's a good replacement for zebra," Nodoka said. "Wouldn't want my claws to turn brittle."

"Uhh, heh," Brittany said nervously, scratching the back of her head. "Where's the tuna?"

"My son showed you his problem?" Nodoka asked hopefully.

"Yes," Gina said. "And we think we can solve it!" Nodoka blinked.

"Are you magicians as well?" she asked.

"Well, no," Gina said. "I'm one of the greatest geniuses on this planet, I got rid of a curse on me and Brittany once." Brittany and Brianna cleared their throats. "Well, I did. And Bri and I fixed Mom's curse. Between the two of us this should be cake."

Akane and Nodoka glanced at Brittany's nervous expression and began to worry. Maybe some backup was called for, just in case.

*********************************************************

"Ucchans'," Ukyou said, answering the phone. "What can I do you for? Oh, Ranchan! You're going where? Isn't Atlantis a myth? Oh, somewhere in America, okay...you mean Atlanta...where your mom said that other werecheetah was?" 

Ukyou felt a little nervous, if Ranma met another, female werecheetah, it could be more competition. Then Ranma told her she was already there, and she got even more nervous. Then mentioned sisters trying to cure him, and she got even more nervous. When he finally said that Akane had suggested bringing along some friends for support she was near to panicking. That meant either Akane was really worried, or else Akane no longer viewed her as a threat. Well, she'd show that girl.

"Yeah, we'll be right over," Ukyou said. "Oh, by the way, Ryouga was looking for you earlier. Oh, should have known that. We'll meet you there." She hung up the phone and turned to Konatsu. "Konatsu, we're shutting down for a couple of days. Get your gear, and get in gear."

"What's wrong Ukyou-sama," Konatsu asked.

"Somebody thinks they can cure Ranma," Ukyou said. "And he wants some friends at his back in case it turns out to be a trick or something."

"Oh, and where are we going?" Konatsu asked.

"Atlanta, Georgia," Ukyou said. "And keep a close eye on Akane and Ranma for me, okay?"

"Standard operating procedures then," Konatsu said, sighing.

*********************************************************

"Oh, hello Akane," Kasumi said answering the phone. "I see. Okay. And when will you be back? I see. Is anyone else going with you. Just in case? Oh that's good."

"Was that Akane on the phone?" Soun asked, rushing to Kasumi's side and looking anxious. ~My baby's all right! She's not torn to pieces by some rampaging monster in the streets!!~

"Yes, she, Ranma and Ukyou are going to America for a couple of days," Kasumi said calmly.

"WHAT!?!" Soun and Genma shouted. Nabiki merely watched, with an arched eyebrow.

"Yes, they may have found someone in Atlanta that can cure the curse," Kasumi said. Nabiki heard Atlanta, thought of what she remembered about the adventures of a certain werecheetah, and the current situation. She put two and two together and smiled, maybe she could talk to Kuno-chan.

"And they haven't invited me!?" Genma shouted. And the bald martial artist was quickly out the door.

"Oh my," Kasumi said. "Perhaps I should have said they were already at the airport." She smiled serenely and walked into the kitchen.

*********************************************************

"Who'ya callin' sugar?" Ukyou asked as she walked up to the pay phone. Akane turned and seemed to relax a little as she saw Ukyou and Konatsu.

"My family," Akane said. "We figured it would be a good idea to wait to call them. Thanks for coming Ukyou."

"You think I'm going to let you go off alone with Ranchan?" Ukyou asked, smirking. Akane's face darkened a little.

"Why would I want to be alone with him?" she asked, rolling her eyes and walking towards a hangar.

"Is this normal for an airport?" Ukyou asked, walking across the tarmac. She had gotten the feeling from various movies that terminals were usually inside.

"Not that I know of," Akane said. "I think this is a private company or something."

"Is that the girl?" Ukyou asked. Akane nodded and Ukyou started walking directly toward Brittany.

"Ukyou, wait!" Akane called out as Ukyou pulled away from her and Konatsu to confront the werecheetah.

"You're this Brittany person, right?" Ukyou asked point blank. Brittany blinked from where she had been lounging and looked at Ukyou.

"That's right," she said.

"Well, let's just get one thing clear here," Ukyou said. "Ranchan's my fiancee, so don't you be getting any ideas just because you two are like the last of your races or anything." 

Brittany acquired a rather curious expression on her face and crossed her arms. Noticing the confrontation, Stripe came away from where he was helping Ace with something and headed for Brittany. Behind her, Akane had her face in her hand. Konatsu just looked embarrassed.

"So don't try to get in my way, sugar," Ukyou said. "Got it?" Then Stripe was standing next to Brittany, who took a breath and gestured towards him.

"Allow me to introduce Stripe," she said in an amused, and half-offended, tone. "My husband." Ukyou blushed bright red and started fidgeting.

"Oh," Ukyou said. "Excuse me, I'm going to go now." She walked away, burning in embarrassment.

"I tried to warn you," Akane said as Ukyou passed her.

"Oh shut up," Ukyou muttered.

*********************************************************

"Kuno-chan," Nabiki said over the phone. "I've got some news about my sister, Ranma and the pig-tailed girl." Not even Nabiki noticed the small, furred eavesdropper.

*********************************************************

Shampoo walked into the back of the Nekohanten and sought out hot water. A few moments later she was running up to Cologne.

"Hibachan!" Shampoo shouted desperately. "Airen going to America with Kitchen Destroyer and Spatula Girl!!"

"Did you hear why?" Cologne asked after a moment's thought.

"Shampoo think he go for cure of curse," Shampoo said.

"The werecheetah will have to wait for now then," Cologne said. "Get your things ready."

"But how will we get there?" Shampoo asked. "They're probably already gone!"

"Let me worry about that," Cologne said, smirking.

~Why you, Saotome!!~ Mousse thought. ~Go get a cure on your own and leave us behind, will you?~

*********************************************************

"You know, this place seems familiar," Ryouga said. Walk through one glowing doorway and suddenly he was completely off track. He had been on the road to Nerima, well actually he had been heading for Yokohama, but he didn't know that. Now he could be in Shangri-la for all he knew.

There were a lot of books though, and glancing at them showed them to mostly be of esoteric knowledge. Ryouga thought about it for a moment. Maybe there was something about werecheetahs here...or even...Jusenkyo!

"Oh, hello again," a voice said. "Did you find what you were looking for last time?" Ryouga turned around to see a man walking among the books.

"Last time?" Ryouga asked blankly.

"You were looking for books on Jusenkyo," the man reminded him.

"Oh yeah," Ryouga said, not really remembering it, but playing along anyway. "I must have gotten lost, could you lead me to them."

"Sure anything else you need?" the man asked.

"Do you know anything about werecheetahs?" Ryouga asked.

"Why yes," the man said. "One of my ex-girlfriends has a sister who is a werecheetah."

"What?!"

*********************************************************

Ranma sat forward in the plane, with Ukyou, Akane and Konatsu. Brittany turned from looking to them to looking at Nodoka sitting close to her son, but obviously wishing to be closer than she was. Then she looked to Stripe and her sisters.

"I need to talk to her alone for a moment," Brittany said. Stripe nodded. "She might not want to talk about...things."

"I understand," he said. "If you need anything just call us." Brittany nodded and started to work her way across the plane. Brianna shifted a moment and looked over at Ranma.

"Where are you going?" Gina asked.

"To talk to the kid," Brianna said.

Akane and Ukyou looked up suspiciously as she approached.

"Can I speak to your boyfriend for a moment?" Brianna asked. "Don't worry, I'm not joining anyone's harem." She smirked. "He's too young for me anyway."

"So what do you want to talk to me about?" Ranma asked. Brianna looked at the other three and frowned.

"Why don't you three go get to know my sister and brother-in-law?" Brianna asked. "This is private."

"Excuse us if we don't trust you," Akane said. "There's a lot of history with Ranma and women." Ranma groaned and tried to ignore Akane and Ukyou.

"Well, go over there and watch," Brianna said pointing. "If I do something you don't like you'll see it." They stared at her, uncertain.

"You better not try anything, sugar," Ukyou said, standing up reluctantly.

"Ranma?" Akane asked, turning to face him. Ranma glanced at Brianna's face and saw the half-pleading expression in the back of her eyes.

"Go ahead, I'll talk to her," Ranma said shrugging.

"And don't YOU try anything," Akane said irritably standing up to join Ukyou and Konatsu.

"Sheesh, you never trust me," Ranma muttered. Then he looked to Brianna. "So what did you want to talk about?" Brianna glanced at her sisters and started whispering.

"Don't tell my sisters about this okay?" Brianna asked.

"About what?" Ranma asked.

"About...the Neko-ken," Brianna said quietly. Ranma looked confused, why shouldn't he talk to her sisters about his problem. Though something was telling him that she really wanted to talk about something else. Ranma saw a spark of something familiar in her eyes. A certain fear of snapping to awareness to something act. A fear of herself.

"Whatta ya wanna know?" 

*********************************************************

"So how did you survive," Brittany asked. "My dad said I was the only one."

"I wasn't there," Nodoka said simply. "I needed to think about some things. So I had left for a short trip before the attack happened."

"Oh," Brittany said, not sure what else to say. "What did you need to think about? If that's not too much to ask."

"It hardly matters now," Nodoka said sadly. "But I was wondering if I should tell my family who I was." Brittany looked confused. "You see, there was this time-traveling dog talking about preventing someone from being born..."

"Dr. Peachbody?" Brittany asked.

"Oh, you've had the...pleasure," Nodoka said.

"Unfortunately," Brittany said. "You escaped him though."

"And ended up a few decades ahead in the future," Nodoka said. "By the time I found my family again, I already had a granddaughter. I assume Xerxes' child died along with everyone else." Nodoka took a look at Brittany and blinked. "Is there something wrong, Brittany-san?"

"Did you say you had a son named Xerxes?" Brittany asked.

"Yes," Nodoka said, looking at her in anticipation.

"Who married Cyan?" Brittany added.

"Correct," Nodoka said, on the edge of her seat. Brittany looked her up and down.

"Ummm," Brittany said. She hesitated before continuing. "Your granddaughter didn't die." Nodoka took her turn to investigate Brittany, then she glanced over at Stripe.

"And she has such a manly husband," Nodoka said.

~Oh no,~ Brittany thought as she remember the words of her mother's spirit at her wedding. ~It's hereditary.~

*********************************************************

"What did she want to talk about?" Akane asked as she took her seat next to Ranma again, from the sounds of it the flight would be ending soon.

"Yeah," Ukyou added. "She looked pretty serious." Ranma thought about his answer before shrugging.

"She wanted to talk about the Neko-ken," Ranma said.

"Why?" Akane asked. Ranma shrugged again.

"I didn't ask about that," Ranma said. "Maybe it's something to do with how they wanna get rid of the curse."

"Oh yeah, they were asking about behavioral changes," Akane said. "I wonder why."

Ranma remembered the question Brianna had asked. ~Has he ever like, tried to...umm...kill everybody?~ Then he shrugged.

*********************************************************

"What did you talk to him about? Gina asked. Brianna hesitated and then shrugged.

"The Neko-Ken," Brianna said honestly. "I was worried about a repeat of...you know." It was the truth, even if how it was said would lead Gina to thinking about other things.

"Oh I think we can stop that," Gina said confidently. Then she gave Brianna a concerned look. "You're worrying a lot about that today."

"This Neko-ken thing strikes close to home," Brianna said.

*********************************************************

"How you get stupid stick boy to let us on plane?" Shampoo asked.

"I simply informed him that you had business with Ranma involving a battle you had lost," Cologne said. "I'm afraid he took that to mean that Ranma had forced himself upon you."

"Stick boy get more stupid every day," Shampoo said. Then she turned and glared at Mousse. "What he doing here?"

"Why I invited him of course," Kodachi said. ~And if I help him obtain you, there will be fewer obstacles between me and my Ranma-sama.~ "OHHH-HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"

"Would you kindly not laugh, Koda-chan," Nabiki said. "Or do you not want me to tell you were Ranma is?"

"Enough of this banter!" Kuno shouted. "Pilot take us to Atlanta, now!!"

"All right already," the pilot said. "Sit down!"

*********************************************************

"Is there a reason that we're sneaking into your home?" Konatsu asked.

"We...uh...don't want to wake up our parents," Gina said.

"That's a way to put it," Brittany said. She glanced at Ranma curiously. "You two are going to watch while Ranma's...cured, right?"

"You better believe it, sugar," Ukyou said.

"Uh yeah," Akane said.

"Well why don't the rest of us go somewhere nice and safe...I mean quiet," Brittany said. "And get better acquainted." She grabbed Stripe and Nodoka and started walking off. "Muffin, meet your grandmother-in-law."

"Excuse me?" Stripe said, somewhat surprised. Gina and Brianna turned back at that English statement, wondering if they had misheard.

"What did she mean by somewhere safe?" Ranma asked.

"Oh don't worry about her," Brianna said. "Nothing really dangerous has happened down here for a while." It was not a reassuring sound.

*********************************************************

"The kids are back," Theo said.

"So what," Julia retorted. "It's a very big house, now about those new...ahem...manuevers."

*********************************************************

"Why is Ranma way out over there?" Akane asked. "While we're over here?"

"Because last time we tried this," Gina said. "There was this energy discharge that knocked everybody out."

"You're sure this is safe, right?" Ukyou asked.

"Oh yeah," Brianna said. "And we got lots of stuff ready just in case."

"Just in case of what?" Akane asked.

"Nothing," Gina said.

"You know," Brianna said. "I was just thinking that we should have done some tests on his abilities before we started."

"Can we get on with this?" Ranma's voice came out over the intercom.

"Going now!" Gina said, typing in a bunch of buttons and ignoring Brianna. "This is going to hurt." Gina said at last before starting the sequence.

"What do you mean it's gonna...AAAAHHH!!" 

*********************************************************

"What in the world did you do?" Akane demanded as they rushed up to the tubes and saw a pair of cheetahs lying unconscious.

"Well, do you think it worked?" Gina asked.

"I ain't checking their gender," Brianna replied firmly.

"Did what work!" Ukyou demanded. "You said you were curing the curse!" She grabbed at her spatula and got ready to fight.

"Well the same thing happened when I took the curse off me and Brittany," Gina said. "It sort of brought the decoy I set up to life. I was sort of wondering if a shape changing spell like this one would have enough power for that."

"Well you were wrong!" Akane shouted. "What happened to the last 'decoy' that came to life?" Brianna waved.

"Hello," she said.

"Akane-san, Ukyou-sama," Konatsu said. "They're waking up." Everybody turned to look at the cheetahs as they sat up and stretched, cat-like.

"Uh-oh," Akane said, whispering. "The Neko-ken." Both cheetahs noted her and happily started towards her direction, until they noticed each other.

*********************************************************

"It is pleasant to be able to take hybrid from again," Nodoka said stretching out. 

"I've never had to hide myself," Brittany said. "I guess I've been lucky."

"The werewolves never tried to kill you?" Nodoka asked.

"Yes they did," Brit said. "One of them. The one who ordered the attack. He was a traitor to his own kind too, did you know that? Killed a lot of werewolves."

"So it was the responsibility of one madman then," Nodoka said, somewhat relieved that the whole nation of the wolves had not been behind it. On the other hand it was chilling that one man could do such damage. "What has become of this monster?"

"He was disintegrated," Brittany said with a feral grin.

"What exactly did you mean by somewhere safe?"

"Oh nothing," Brittany said.

"Then can you tell me how exactly do your sisters plan to cure Ranma?" Nodoka asked.

"Oh, probably the same way she cured us," Brittany said. "Make a decoy for the curse." 

"Isn't that how Brianna was born?" Stripe asked. Brittany gave a nervous smile.

"Pardon me?" Nodoka asked.

"Well she said she could do it without the side-effect," Brittany said nervously. "Of course, knowing Bri and Gina..."

"What is this side effect you're talking about?" Nodoka asked.

"Ahem, could...um...somebody come down here," Gina's voice came over the intercom. In the background was the sound of growling and crashes and people yelling. "We seem to have hit a little bit of a snag." Brittany sweatdropped.

"Ranma! Stop attacking Ranma!" Akane's voice added, sounding confused and angry.

"What in the world is going on down there?" Nodoka demanded hurriedly.

"I'd say Gina and Brianna accidentally cloned your son," Stripe said. Brittany groaned and slammed her face into her hand.

*********************************************************

"Oh no," Julia moaned.

"I guess we should see what's happening," Theo said equally resigned.

*********************************************************

"Don't worry!" Brianna yelled. She had left the lab as the cheetahs started going after each other, and now she was back. "It's not silver!!"

She had, of course, a gun.

"What does she mean by it's not silver?" Ukyou asked turning toward the voice. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

It was a big gun.

"Umm, nothing," Brianna said, pulling up even with everybody. "Nothing that'll kill a werecheetah anyway." She trained the gun on the fighting werecheetahs, and smiled as the powering up sounds echoed through the room. It didn't really have to make that noise, but she liked it that way.

"Are you crazy?!" Akane shouted smacking the gun as Brianna started firing. The arc of fire went wide, into the ceiling, only one explosion catching the cheetahs on the edge.

"Watch what you're doing!" Brianna shouted. "You could have killed us."

"And you could have killed the Ranmas!" Ukyou snapped back.

"Only silver, magic or other werefolk can do that," Gina said. "But, we can try to incapacitate them with stuff that SHOULD kill them. And then separate them."

"They're getting away!" Konatsu shouted as the cheetahs chased each other up the wall and out the hole Brianna had made in the ceiling.

"How'd they do that?" Bri asked.

"How'd who do what?" a voice asked. Brianna and Gina turned around to see their parents.

"Uh, we had a little problem removing a curse," Gina said.

*********************************************************

"Tell me, how did you come to decide that this was where Ranma would be heading?" Cologne asked.

"Tell me Cologne," Nabiki said. "In the year or so you've been in the modern world, have you heard of the Diggers?"

"The name sounds familiar," Cologne admitted. Nabiki rung the door bell.

"Let's just say that recent events in Nerima and the fact that Ranma was going to Atlanta with some Americans point to the Diggers family," Nabiki said.

"I should hope so," Kuno declared. "If you have, for no reason, brought us to this land of barbarians who have utterly no respect for those of true greatness, then you shall have something to answer for." Nabiki rung the door bell again.

"Indeed," Kodachi said. "I for once must agree with my delusional brother in this regard."

"It certainly does seem quiet for any place in which Saotome has resided for any length of time," Mousse noted.

"Mercenary girl helping sister hide Airen?" Shampoo threatened dangerously.

"I wouldn't have come with you if I were," Nabiki said. Nabiki knocked on the door.

"So where is everybody then?" Mousse asked. At this point Nabiki was considering having one of the martial artists knock.

"This has to be where..." 

Nabiki was interrupted as two large furry shapes exploded out of the door, knocking both Nabiki and Kuno to the side. The shapes bowled through the group and then stopped for long enough for the Nerimans to identify a pair of cheetahs, one slightly smaller. They were circling each other and hissing.

"Cheetahs?" Cologne said, a little surprised. Both cats seemed a little worn, but both displayed a few gashes here and there, and it seemed more would be coming.

"They went this way!!" a voice shouted in English. Then a blonde girl with the stereotypical big gun came charging out of the house. She pointed at the two cheetahs and then blinked on seeing Mousse. Then the gun was trained to point at him. "Didn't I blow you up already?"

"Ah no doubt it is the daemonic werecheetah that has been plaguing Nerima, obviously it came here with its evil master to escape my righteous wrath," Kuno drew a silver blade and charged at the dueling cheetahs. Both turned away from their fight long enough to charge at Kuno, and shred his silver sword without touching it. After the samurai was tossed aside the cheetahs turned their attention to each other.

Cologne narrowed her eyes as she recognized the neko-ken attacks and turned to Nabiki.

"The werecheetah is Ranma, isn't it," Cologne asked. At the word werecheetah, Shampoo drew her sword, looking fairly reluctant to do so.

"That was my guess," Nabiki said.

"Stop shooting at my Ranchan!" Ukyou shouted as she came through the door and slammed her spatula into Brianna. The gun shoved down, almost crushing Mousse's nervous face. Then it fired, while stuck in the ground. The gun and much of the ground underneath, exploded upwards sending Mousse, Ukyou and Brianna flying into the air.

"Brianna!" Gina shouted as she came on the scene with Akane and her parents.

"Ukyou!" Akane shouted.

"Mousse!" Shampoo shouted. "FALL ON HEAD!" 

Both werecheetahs were again distracted from their fight to attend to the falling girls. Ukyou and Brianna both felt something grab at the back of their shirts and interrupt their fall. Next thing both knew they were being set down gently.

Mousse obediently fell on his head. On top of Kodachi's head, who had been wondering if the cheetahs would make good pets. Both lay senseless on the ground sprawled over each other.

Shampoo reluctantly moved forward until she was stopped by Cologne.

"I could not beat Ranma in human form under the effects of the neko-ken," Cologne said. "It would take someone of great power to even challenge him now."

Both cheetahs slowly started circling after each other again.

"RANMA STOP NOW!!" Two voices shouted at once, as Nodoka, Brittany and Stripe joined the scene. Akane and Nodoka didn't bother to ask why the cheetahs hesitated at the shout, they just each moved to hold back one of the cats.

Shampoo caught sight of another werecheetah and apparently a weretiger, out of the corner of her eye and shifted stance to confront them.

"You make airen into monster!" Shampoo shouted, charging forward with her silver sword. She was easily intercepted and tossed across the sizeable yard by an extremely angry redhead.

"Don't touch my daughter!" Julia snapped.

"You claim that creature as your child?" Cologne asked. Brittany growled at the comment.

"What did you call my sister?" someone asked behind Cologne. She turned to see Brianna, recovered from her surprise, and suddenly dressed in futuristic armor with at least a dozen pokemon like things floating around her. Cologne remembered the explosive robot and frowned.

"Try not to insult my wife," Stripe added grimly.

"Amazon, right?" Theodore Diggers asked. 

Cologne nodded, thinking of what move to make first. The two cheetahs, while mostly unwilling to endanger the people holding them, growled in her direction. Nodoka and Akane also glared at Cologne, but kept a firm hold of the cheetahs, worried they might start fighting again otherwise.

"You're still following those archaic rules," Dr. Diggers added, shaking his head. "For goodness sake, the Realm of the Undead is more lenient and reasonable than you people."

"They work," Cologne protested.

"Not really," the mage responded. Shampoo stood up and started to stalk towards Julia. "I wouldn't do that. My wife is the Armsmaster of Jade. Arguably the best warrior in two worlds." Cologne blinked, shocked at the revelation.

"Of course if you want to try to take me on," Julia said, smirking. Shampoo growled and looked ready to rush her.

"Don't child," Cologne insisted. She turned to Diggers. "The Armsmaster, and who would you be?"

"Theodore Diggers," he answered. "A member of the Conclave of Wizards. I believe that the Amazons haven't had anyone in the Conclave for around five hundred years."

"Before we leave," Cologne said. "I have to ask how Ranma contracted his condition."

"He was born that way," Nodoka called out, angrily. "How else would it happen?"

"It is a race," Dr. Diggers said. "Not a disease as you and yours seem to think."

"I see," Cologne said darkly. "Shampoo we are leaving." ~But this isn't over.~

"But…!" Shampoo protested, stopping as Cologne gave her a look. They didn't bother to take Mousse along with them.

"Well, that was exciting," Ukyou said, dryly, feeling jealous as she watched the cheetahs, one of which was comfortably resting in Akane's arms. Well it was straining to attack the other cheetah, but jealousy colors things funny.

"Okay," Julia said. "Someone explain to us what's going on."

*********************************************************

"So what your saying is," Akane said, staring at the strange horned...person. "That SHE has all Ranma's memories and thinks that SHE'S the original."

"Yes," Genn said, not entirely pleased that Bri and Gina had done this particular experiment again.

"I thought we had it right this time," Gina protested to his look. Everybody gave both sisters a renewed look.

"Perhaps I would suggest letting her hold on to that belief for now," Brianna said. "She'll probably figure it out on her own, but no need to slam it into her."

"Ranchan's not going to like that," Ukyou muttered.

"We'll just give both of them the same private speech," Akane said. "That'll work, won't it?"  
  
"Hard to say," Theodore Diggers said. "Mrs. Saotome?"  
  
"I think that'll be the best for now," Nodoka agreed.

*********************************************************

"Congratulations," a male voice said dryly. "You've actually managed to cure a Jusenkyo curse. Sort of."

"It worked didn't it?" Gina's voice said hesitantly. Apparently they were speaking Japanese for their guests' benefit.

"How were we supposed to know that would happen?" Brianna asked. The listener could almost feel all the faces turn to look at Bri.

~Cure a...I'm cured!~ the listener thought. They sat up and looked around. "Am I really cured?" Then they noticed a familiar sight and blinked in surprise. "Oh my, isn't that my cursed form?"

"Hey," the boy said angrily and nervously. "You're my cursed form!"

"Be quiet, baka!" Akane snapped, elbowing him. "We just talked about this."

"Ran...ko," Nodoka said soothingly. She turned to look at her mother and shivered. She loved her mother, but since finding about this werecheetah thing it was hard to approach her. "The procedure to cure..." her independent boy form rolled his eyes. "...resulted in a clone. You now have a brother, Ranma."

"Having a telepath on hand is useful," Gina said in English. "Isn't it Dad?"

"We wouldn't have so much need if some people weren't so reckless," Julia said with an amused smirk as the Saotome siblings cautiously became acquainted. "I suppose the next step is meditation techniques to control the neko-ken?" Her husband nodded.

"We should probably try Jade for that," Theo said. "More mages to control them, just in case."

*********************************************************

"I need to stop walking through glowing doorways," Ryouga said wearily as he sat in a tavern sipping a mug of some alcoholic beverage and watching a collection of cat-people drinking at a table across the room. At the moment Ryouga was fervently hoping that they wouldn't find the silver blade in his umbrella.

   [1]: http://tannim.anifics.com/



	2. Lycanthropic Fun

"Mrs

"Mrs. Saotome," Theo said. "When you hired the mage to lock your...child's form, did you also have them take steps to prevent him from inflicting the curse form of lycanthropy on anybody?"

"I had thought such magic was merely a rumor," Nodoka said, surprised.

"Ahh," Theo said in a resigned tone. "I take it that means no."

********

"So what is this spell for?" Ranma asked cautiously as Dr. Diggers powered up.

"It is to make sure some of the less favorable aspects of lycanthropy don't bother you," the mage said. "Or anyone else."

"Excuse me," Ranko said, sitting across the room from Ranma. "What less favorable aspects?" As Theo started to cast the spell, Nodoka explained the inflicted form of lycanthropy. Brianna walked in as the explanation was finishing, and both younger Saotomes looked pale.

Ranma glanced over at the mage who was casting what seemed to be the same spell on his sister. He tested himself a little, running a mental catalogue, and nothing seemed to be amiss after that spell. He didn't really think this mage would do anything, of course, but paranoia saved pain later sometimes.

"Hey, when you're finished here," Brianna said. "Mom wants to talk to both of them."

"What about?" Ranma asked, eyes narrowed. Talking to parents sometimes resulted in new fiancees. Worry about the mage neatly sidetracked by the bigger problem.

"She saw the recording of your fight with Pee Wee and his Playmates," Brianna said. "Wants to talk shop, maybe spar." Ranma perked up instantly.

"That sounds cool," Ranma said. "She's supposed to be really good right?"

"That's putting it mildly," Theo said.

"That's fine with me," Ranko said, somewhat less enthusiastically. Ranma put it off to left over shock at the description of thralls and such. After all, she was him, just a female version. She had to like martial arts just as much as he did. Assuming she didn't turn out to be a crazy evil clone out to destroy him that is.

"Good," Theo said. "Then perhaps you can do that while I speak to our guests." He turned to his daughter, speaking in English. "Brianna, could you tell Gina, and all our out of town visitors to come talk to me?"

"Sure," Brianna said. "You need me here too?"

"Are you a full human that got scratched by our friends here?" he asked, indicating the Saotome's.

"Oh," Brianna said, in realization. "I guess that I don't have to worry about that." She laughed once nervously.

"I wouldn't think so, I just need you to have the other people talk to me," Theo said. "but let Mrs. Saotome and I explain matters."

"Gotcha," Brianna said. She turned to the twins and switched to Japanese. "You guys done?"

"I guess so," Ranko said. "Is that it?" Theodore Diggers nodded.

"Well, let's go see what this lady's got then," Ranma said enthusiastically.

********

"Nope, no cuts, no scratches, no bites," Gina said. "I stayed away from the fight. I leave that kind of stuff to Bri and Brit."

"Excuse me, why are you asking us this?" Akane asked, confused.

"It seems that Ranma and Ranko are contagious," Theo said.

"I thought you said it wasn't a disease," Ukyou said, nervously.

"It isn't, really," the mage explained. "But the theory is that werecreatures were created from normal humans long ago and that the original spell lies inside them. At least there is something in them that causes a change in normal humans."

"It is something that civilized werecreatures take careful pains to avoid," Nodoka said off to the side. "Accidents happen, however."

"Usually the clans have a mage to ward the children," Theo explained further. "Though apparently Mrs. Saotome did not know of them."

"I have been a little out of the loop," Nodoka admitted.

"So, what's so bad about being stronger and faster than anybody?" Ukyou asked.

"Do you not know the stories?" Kodachi demanded.

"Stories?" Ukyou repeated, confused.

"Koda-chan," Nabiki said. "If you haven't noticed already, Ranma and his friends have spent most of their lives fairly separate from most of the rest of the world. Magical shapechanging cats generally are not well regarded, but that's all old stories."

"Which is why Kodachi is probably the only one who brought it up," Akane said irritably.

"There is another problem as well," Dr. Diggers said.

"Here it comes," Gina says. "I tried to get them to let Brittany scratch me once and..."

"It is wrong. The true lycanthrope will have power over the inflicted one," Nodoka said passionately. "Again, with accidents, civilized weres choose not to exercise that power, but there are barbarians that would use it. To control the thrall's emotions, loyalty, when they change, everything. It is an abominable and primitive practice."

"Yep," Gina nodded. "Same lecture, different person though. Is there some sort of werecreature parent's handbook I've never heard of?"

"We'd be...Ranma's...slaves?" Nabiki asked quietly. It was uncertain which part of that she disliked more. Kodachi blinked and sat up straight.

"Hmmmm." All eyes turned to the slightly flushed noblegirl and sweatdropped.

"And that's why I haven't done a blood transfusion," Gina said. An image flashed through her head of Brittany asking to borrow money for a shopping binge, and her just handing it over. Of course Brit would never do that, she was fairly certain anyway.

"Or Ranko's, if they chose," Nodoka said. "Even if they didn't, you'd feel very loyal to whoever it was that inflicted it on you."

"So that's explained," Theo said, a little more calmly. "Other than the samurai I've already tended to, have any of you been bitten or clawed by either Ranma or Ranko in the last day or so?"

"So, it's curable then?" Kodachi asked, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Yes, but it's easier to stop it than it is to cure it," Theo said. "Now, did anyone get scratched or bitten while they were tumbling around?" Nabiki and Akane's hands virtually shot up. Ukyou held back.

"I do not remember taking any injury other than that gaijin barbarian landing upon my head," Kodachi professed.

"Yeah, nothing here either," Ukyou said. "Except for some flash burns." Theo was about to question Ukyou again when Nodoka spoke up.

"I hope those Amazons didn't get scratched at all," Nodoka said. Mousse had vanished as soon as he woke up. "It would only encourage them to come after us."

"We can't control that," Theo said. "And we won't know until they show up."

"Yeah, that would be too bad," Nabiki said, not truly concerned. 

"Is there perhaps anybody else he may have injured?" Dr. Diggers asked.

"He went into Neko-ken earlier today," Akane said. "But he only attacked Kuno."

"That would explain why it was so advanced in the boy," the mage said. "Nobody else?"

"I don't think so," Ukyou said. She yawned.

********

"Are you okay, Yuka?" Sayuri asked. "You look irritated at something."

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said. "A just feel a little itchy is all."

"You get into the wrong plants, or get a bug bite or something?" Sayuri asked. The other girl shook her head.

"No, it's that scratch I got from Ranma when we were pulling him off Kuno," Yuka said.

"Oh, that explains it," Sayuri said, waving it off. "Cats have poison in their claws you know. I got scratched by angry cat once and it burned for hours."

"You know," Yuka said nervously. "I just thought of something, there's a werecheetah around."

"Yeah, but that was Ranma in Neko-ken," Sayuri said. "Not some horror movie monster."

"I guess so," Yuka said, sighing. She slipped a small amulet over her neck and brushed her hair back over the chain.

"What's that?" Sayuri asked.

"Oh, it's a family heirloom," Yuka said. "Mom found it some of my father's things and thought I should have it." She took a deep breath and slipped the little amulet into her shirt.

"Oh, sorry," Sayuri said. Yuka waved her off.

"That's okay," Yuka said. "I kind of wish Akane were here to talk about it though."

"It was kind of weird looking, what was it?" Sayuri asked. Yuka looked back and forth for a moment and then leaned close to Sayuri.

"It's from Africa," she said.

"What was one of your ancestors doing in Africa?" Sayuri asked.

"They were born there," Yuka whispered. "Came over with a load of exotic animals in the early eighteen hundreds."

"Yuka, this isn't feudal Japan anymore," Sayuri said. "Gaijin blood isn't THAT big of a deal."

"Yeah, says you," Yuka said. She glanced around quickly again and then calmed down. "So, who else is coming to this sleepover?"

"A few other girls," Sayuri said shrugging as she and Yuka continued walking down the darkening streets. "And watch it, you flail about in your sleep."

"I do not," Yuka denied, and the conversation descended into good-natured juvenile denials and accusations.

Ahhh. Blessed ignorance.

********

"Now about those of us who were scratched..." The mage smirked in amusement at the girl's attitude. She was trying to come across as merely irritated, and doing a fair job of it. Ukyou was hiding something though, and the arrogant one seemed to be rather shifty as well. He thought it would probably be a good idea to check them over anyway.

"Don't worry, this doesn't take long," Theo said. Nabiki tried to look unconcerned as the mage built up power. Then the light flashed around her, sort of tickling. The frown that appeared on the mage's face froze Nabiki's blood cold. He cupped his chin and turned to Akane, incidentally forgetting about his suspicions about Ukyou and Kodachi. "Let me check something real quick here."

"Oh kay," Akane said nervously.

"What's wrong," Nabiki asked, trying to sound collected and cool as the mage cast a spell on Akane. After a moment he turned to face her.

"It seems there is a lycanthrope in your family history at some point," the mage said. "The introduction of the lycanthrope curse to your system is waking up the potential."

"Basically all the dormant genes carried over from your family bloodline are being activated," Gina said. "With whatever's missing probably being filled in by the magical gene-engineering programs designed into the lycanthropic spell." Everybody looked at her for a moment and nodded, not all of them particularly certain of what she said.

"You mean I'm going to become one of Ranma's groupies, and you can't stop it?" Akane demanded.

"Hey!" Ukyou protested. "Who are you calling a groupie?"

"If the shoe fits," Nabiki said, struggling to maintain her calm exterior.

"What is going to happen," Nodoka asked edging forward nervously.

"By tomorrow, it's happening quicker for Akane," he said. "It will be finished, but I can't say what'll happen. They could be like Brianna, or anything really. I doubt they will be inflicted weres whatever the case, most likely they would be like you and your children, full blown lycanthropes." Nabiki felt an immense relief at that, though the idea of being furry was something of an annoyance.

"What kind of werecreature?" Ukyou asked, a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"There's no telling yet," the mage said. "Looks like we'll have to wait a day to see."

"Why will it be quicker for me?" Akane asked, taking a deep breath.

"Well, gee, Akane," Nabiki said sarcastically. "Which of us here has had more encounters with magic, you or me?"

"Oh," Akane said, flushing in embarrassment. "How long before it happens?"

"Not long," Theo said. "Lycanthropy is a persistent magic, about the only thing that would have a quicker effect would be taking a trip to Jade."

********

"I don't know what's going on," Ryouga muttered angrily. "But somehow it has to be Ranma's fault."

The wanderer was currently looking into a clear pool at a furry face with a slightly extended snout and set of sharp canine teeth. Of course there was the long, furry tail that was sticking out of his rear end, folded over his pants waistband.

Of course there was the clothes problem. He was huge, and suddenly his clothes were ridiculously small on his enlarged frame. He looked sort of like a combination of a mastiff, that sasquatch fellow he'd run into last month, and a poorly dressed street urchin that had just hit a growth spurt.

"Oh my," a voice said behind him. There was snickering. "Would you look at that?"

"Sheila don't laugh at the poor boy," another voice said. This one was actually trying to hold in the laughter. "There's probably a very good reason he's dressed like that."

"Definitely Ranma's fault," Ryouga muttered, eyes narrowed. He turned around to face his tormentors. "Stop laughing at me! Damn you, Ranma! Somehow this is your fault! Where is Tokyo!?"

"I've never heard of the..." the cat-girl stopped as she got a better look at Ryouga.

"Werewolves are banned from this world," the taller werecat said. He had the same pattern of circles and spots as the girl. Ryouga guessed they were related, though he was certain that that was a little beyond his ability to tell for sure.

"Werewolf?" Ryouga asked. He paused a few seconds, blinking. "RANMA!!!!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!"

********

"By the way," Theo said, noticing how all the people from Japan seemed to be getting tired. "It must be getting fairly late in Japan, perhaps you all should get some sleep."

"Is there enough room here?" Akane asked.

"Oh, plenty," Gina said, smirking. "Plenty."

"You are going to require that I and my brother remain here?" Kodachi added. She looked around. "I suppose the surroundings are somewhat up to my standards."

"I'm glad you approve," Theo said dryly. "If you'll excuse me, I have to attend to some other things. I'm sure Gina can direct you to some rooms." As they were leaving the room to be directed to some of the guest quarters Nabiki pulled Akane back for a private talk.

"I think they're up to something," Nabiki said.

"Ukyou and Kodachi?" Akane asked. Nabiki nodded. "What do you mean by they're up to something?"

"Think about it," Nabiki said. "If another werecheetah were to show up, who would Auntie most favor a marriage with?"

"You think they got scratched and aren't saying anything about it?" Akane asked.

"Maybe, at least one of them, if not that, then maybe looking for a way to get accidentally infected later. I think you should make a move, sis," Nabiki said. "After I've bled him dry for turning our lives upside down again."

********

"Aren't you going to get in the conversation at all?" Brittany asked Ranko. Genn sat off to the side, making conversation much easier by means of his ESP. Though he looked a mixture of bored and terrified at the discussion of various ways to destroy a living thing with nothing but a human body. 

Genn was discovering just why those rakshasha that warmed up ethereal energy in combat were somewhat of a rare breed. They probably all died very painful, mutilated deaths. He had to remember to thank Brittany for sparing him in their first meeting

"He can tell about the training as well as I can," Ranko said, shifting uncomfortably away from Brit. Ranma looked at her oddly for a moment and then looked back at Julia.

"So are we just gonna talk or we gonna do some actual sparring," Ranma asked bluntly. Julia smirked and chuckled a little.

"HEY!" Akane snapped as she walked into the room. "Why don't you ever offer to spar with me?"

"Ah, come on Akane," Ranma said, almost whining. "I can't do that."

"Well, why not?" Akane asked, angrily advancing on Ranma. Ranma simply backed off, getting nervous. Ranko looked confused, Akane hadn't been this volatile in a while. "I'm a martial artist too, and you treat me like some sort china doll."

"What's the matter Akane?" Ranko asked. A rather amused and insulted laugh from the door brought the attention to Nabiki.

"We just had some rather questionable news," Nabiki answered. Akane looked at her and crossed her arms, huffing. "Apparently, the Saotomes aren't the only ones with a little bit of animal in their blood."

"Huh?" Ranma said, confused.

"We didn't...uh...infect you," Ranko said after a moment. "Did we?"

"Yes and no," Nabiki said. "Like I said, apparently there's a family history that, after getting a little cut up from the Ran twins, has decided to come out. So when we next wake up we'll be all furry with tails. By the way, Ranma, how much do you owe me now?" Ranma flinched.

"But I'm the one..." Ranko started and cut off, looking uncertain. "Aren't I?"

"You can hardly blame Ranko and Ranma for your blood line," Brianna interrupted, making sure to put Ranko's name first as she saw the girl faltering.

"Akane?" Ranma asked nervously. The girl looked at him for a moment and then stormed off.

"Well," Julia said, crossing her arms. Ranma looked to her. "Are you going to just sit there? Go after her, we can spar later."

"Uh, right," Ranma said, standing up and going after Akane. After a brief moment of confusion Ranko followed along quietly behind. Brianna worriedly moved to follow Ranko.

"You and me have got to talk, girl," Julia said, fixing Nabiki with a dissatisfied glare. Nabiki arched an eyebrow and stifled a yawn.

"She doesn't mean any harm, Mrs. Diggers," Genn said.

"Meaning harm and causing it are two different things," Julia commented. Nabiki shrugged and moved out of the doorway to walk down the hallway.

"I'm going to bed, wake me up whenever," she muttered.

"That girl has a real attitude problem," Julia noted.

"Ranchan!" Ukyou called in a sing song manner. "That Gina girl said I should show you where your room is!" She entered the room and looked around. "Wasn't he just here?"

"He and his sister just left," Genn said. He walked up to Ukyou switching into a copy of Ranma as he moved. "But maybe I can help." He smiled broadly.

"Uhhh," Ukyou backed off in a little shock.

"GENN!!" Brittany and Julia snapped angrily.

"What?" The Rakshasha asked.

"Am I, uh missing something?" Ukyou asked, resulting in being treated to an explanation of feeding habits. Namely drawing ethereal energy from immobile beings after tiring them out through exercise of one type or another.

"Yeah, Genn gets kinda flirty when his power levels go down," Brittany said.

"Very flirty," Julia added darkly, thinking of a time she had caught the rakshasha in a failed attempt to seduce her husband.

"Uh...heh," Genn-Ranma sweated nervously. "I haven't done that again."

"Fortunately for you," Julia said.

"Well, uh..." Genn-Ranma said nervously, turning back to Ukyou. "Are you interested?" The rakshasha was still using Brianna as his primary source of information on how to come on to someone. Which is too say he was about as subtle as brick. Unfortunately he wasn't as comfortable as Brianna so he was also about as effective as a brick in attracting people sometimes.

"Sorry, no thank you," Ukyou said nervously. "I've got my Ranchan, and that's that."

~I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed,~ Genn thought. Julia arched an eyebrow and shared a look with Brittany.

"Ranma-darling!" Kodachi cried out and then came into the room, spotting Genn-Ranma. "Ahh, there you are, I'm supposed to show you the room that Gina person has arranged for us."

"Actually, I'm not really..." Genn tried to say. Ukyou gave a wide smirk and snickered.

"Now, now," Kodachi interrupted. "Now's not the time to be shy. Let us leave these peasants and attend to our glorious selves." Pretty much everybody bridled at that one.

"Well, that's fine with me," Genn said. "But, I'm not..." He was cut off when Ukyou grabbed his arm and snarled at Kodachi.

"Buzz-off and leave me and Ranchan alone, Kodachi," Ukyou snapped.

"But I'm not..." Genn said desperately before Kodachi grabbed his arm back.

"Leave Ranma-sama and me to our business," Kodachi snapped, starting to pull Genn along with her. "Let's go darling." Kodachi was gone in a flash, Ukyou standing back and crossing her arms triumphantly.

"She's in for a surprise," Julia said, smirking.

"Isn't that a little bit mean?" Brittany asked. With the translator gone, Ukyou could only stare in confusion.

"Hey," Julia said. "Genn tried to tell the girl."

"What are you saying?" Ukyou asked. "Never mind, I'm going to bed." She yawned and walked into the hallway.

"What did she say?" Julia asked.

"Uh, she's going to bed," Brittany said. "I think."

"Remind me to ask Genn to come with us," Julia said. "Now, excuse me, I have to...speak to your father."

"Come to think of it," Brittany said. "I haven't had much quality time with Stripe the last couple of days." Both women grinned broadly and then left to track down their husbands.

********

Brianna easily caught up with Ranko and put herself in between the girl and the leaving couple.

"Whoah," Brianna said. "Give them some privacy, girl." 

"I don't know about you," Ranko said. "But copies of me tend to be demons out to kill people." Brianna winced.

"Yeah, well," Brianna scratched the back of her head as she struggled to answer that. "Trust me, if there was anything malicious, Genn would have spotted it. We have some experience with this sort of thing."

"Yeah," Ranko said a little distrusting. "Like we were supposed to trust you with curing me." Brianna sighed and glanced around.

"We both know what this is really about," Brianna said leaning forward. Ranko stared at her through narrowed eyes. "So just one question."

"What?" Ranko asked dangerously. She could get past Brianna if she wanted to.

"Do you always dress like that?" Brianna asked, indicating the Chinese clothes she had taken from the small package of clothes Ranma had brought with him.

"I don't have many other clothes," Ranko said. She wasn't very good at being a girl. The one time she had tried to be what she thought a girl was supposed to be, she had come off as some sort of deranged mockery of a girl. At least that's what she was told.

"Well, girl, you and me are going to take care of that right now," Brianna said. "Unless you need to sleep."

"No, I can go a few hours," Ranma said. She glanced down the hallway. "Are you sure Akane'll be fine?"

"Definitely," Brianna said. Ranko wasn't quite certain she liked the smirk that accompanied that statement.

********

"Akane, wait," Ranma said as he caught up to her. She whirled on Ranma, face angry.

"It's getting late," Akane snapped. She started to point out the window. "Japan is thirteen hours ahead of this place, baka, it's night there. And I'm getting tired, okay?"

"I'm just trying to see if you're all right," Ranma insisted.

"I can take care of myself, Ranma," Akane insisted. "Stop acting like I need to be sheltered."

"Sheesh, just let me help you out a little," Ranma said. "You're helping me with all this stuff too, you know." Akane blinked and stared at Ranma.

"Ranma Saotome," Akane said in mock surprise. "Admitting he needed help for something. Will wonders never cease."

"Yeah, well its true," Ranma said. "You know how much of a relief it's been knowing there's someone there who can pull me outta the neko-ken since this all started? Now, are you okay?"

"I don't know," Akane said simply. "What am I going to do? What will dad say, or my friends?"

"I don't know," Ranma said. "But...I'll watch your back if you keep watchin mine, okay?"

"It isn't that simple," Akane said. "And you've got all those other girls after you..."

"That ain't my fault," Ranma said. "And they don't listen to me."

"You should try harder!" Akane snapped angrily. "Now, I want to get some sleep. You should too." Ranma nodded but looked back and forth down the hallway.

"Good night then, I guess," Ranma said hesitantly. "Just one thing..." Akane sighed in irritation and glanced at him.

"What?" she demanded.

Ranma fidgeted a little and then leaned in to kiss her, Akane blinked in surprise and then hesitantly leaned forward herself. She was lost enough in the kiss that she didn't notice the grey hair growing on her face, or how she got slimmer suddenly, and her ears got bigger. The tail forcing it's way out of her panties and curling out from under her dress was enough to break her focus though.

"Now look what you did, baka," Akane said quietly, breaking off from the kiss. "I wanted to be asleep when this happened."

"Sorry," Ranma said apologetically.

"It's fine," Akane said. "I think that was better, but, Ranma."

"Yeah," Ranma said nervously.

"Give me a warning next time, or I'll hammer you into next week," Akane said with a smirk. "Good night."

"Good night," Ranma said smiling. Then Akane closed the door on her room and he walked away feeling a little bit better. ~She's still cute when she smiles. She smells good too.~ Ranma stopped walking and looked down at his grumbling stomach.

********

"Oww," a girl whined as she sat up. Then she picked up her pillow and thwacked the sleeping form on the futon next to her. This particular smack was more or less just a general principle sort of thing. Now that she was awake enough to actually pay attention to the act.

"Wha?" the target muttered from under her blanket.

"Sheesh, Yuka," someone else said. "This is worse than when Akane clubbed us all. Don't you cut your nails at all?"

"All night t-," Sayuri cut off as she turned to look at Yuka. "Uhh."

"Of course I do," Yuka muttered tiredly as she sat up. "I always cut my...why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Uhhh, Yuka," Sayuri said. "Have you looked at yourself?"

"Why should I look..." she looked down. "...at...myself?" Her hands were all furry with sharp nails, more like claws than anything. Then there was the heavy thump behind her and she turned to see a long spotted tail. "AHHHH!!!"

********

Nodoka was sitting at a table watching the sun set outside the window. The sound of footsteps brought her head around to show Gina walking into the kitchen.

"Oh, hello," Gina said. "Getting up, or going down?"

"I'm just waking up for a moment," Nodoka said. "I plan to get a little more sleep later. If I see Akane I will suggest the same thing to her. If we go to Jade with my...children, then we should get used to the proper cycle."

"Yeah, jet lag is a terror," Gina agreed, walking to the fridge.

"Shouldn't you be getting some sleep?" Nodoka asked.

"Ah, it's barely six," Gina said. She pulled a soda out and sat down at the table next to Nodoka. "I have some experimenting to do."

"What sort of experiments are these?" Nodoka asked.

"Nothing great," Gina said, sounding disappointed. "Just testing some equipment for my next exploration."

"Where will that be?" Nodoka asked.

"The dark side of the moon," Gina said, getting a blink from Nodoka. "I thought I saw something there when we passed it on the way to Aebra."

"Uh, I see," Nodoka said. "I understand why you would need to test your equipment."

"Yeah," Gina said. "Unless you want to have a hull breach halfway to the destination."

"I hope for your sake that you'll be more careful with this than you were with my child," Nodoka said, frowning. Gina flinched.

"I'm really really sorry about that," Gina said. "I was sure I could do it without the side effect."

"Perhaps you are not the only one to blame," Nodoka said after a long moment. "I should have waited to speak to your father at least. Still, a warning at the very least would have been appropriate."

"Yeah, sometimes I do get a little impatient," Gina admitted. Nodoka looked at her for a moment, fidgeting uncomfortably and avoiding looking at the woman.

"What is the purpose of your explorations?" Nodoka asked. "If I may ask."

"I don't know," Gina said shrugging and leaning back. "One day Brittany came in and told me I was wasting my life away doing nothing, and she made sense. Especially about the men." Gina smirked widely. "I'll say this, I've learned more in these explorations than I ever did in the class room."

"So the whole Gold Digger persona on the news," Nodoka let it trail off.

"Is the media playing up on how I choose to fund myself," Gina said. "I sell to museums and I don't sell off the stuff that could be dangerous. I'm not some mercenary pirate. I leave that to other people."

The conversation was cut off briefly by the sound of a car pulling up outside.

"That's my Gina Mobile," Gina said tightly. She stood up deliberately and stalked to the front door, gritting her teeth. Nodoka followed as well, and they came to the front door in time to see Brianna walk in. "Brianna! What are you doing!?"

"What, you think I don't know how to drive that thing?" Brianna asked.

"That's not the point," Gina said. "You don't have a license!"

"Yeah, yeah," Brianna said. "I didn't get pulled over, so no problem."

"What are you doing anyway?" Gina asked. Brianna smiled and put up a finger then faded back a moment and brought someone forward.

"Nodoka Saotome," Brianna said. "May I present your daughter." The dye had been washed out of her hair and she was wearing a long skirt and a rather loose, but pretty blouse. Over that was a light jacket. All done in shades of green to compliment her now blonde and black hair. Ranko's hair was down and cut short with some face framing bangs.

"Oh my," Nodoka said, looking the nervous Ranko over. She stepped forward and took a closer look. Ranko flinched back a little but took a deep breath and calmed herself.

"I wanted slacks," she said. "But they didn't have any that would fit me in both forms."

"You look...lovely, dear," Nodoka said. Ranko blushed.

"Not overdone at all?" Ranko asked nervously and then yawned.

"Not at all," Nodoka said. "I wouldn't wear my hair so short, myself."

"T...th...th...the dye wouldn't w...wash out of it a...all," Ranko said nervously. Nodoka stepped back away from Ranko and the girl relaxed noticeably. Then turned to look at her feet. "Sorry, Mother."

"It's fine, Ranko," Nodoka said in response.

Gina blinked and scooted up next to Brianna. She glanced at the bags of clothes and acquired a distinctly nervous look.

"How much did this all cost?" Gina asked quietly in English.

"I'll ask Brittany later," Brianna said. Gina smiled nervously and started to sweat. "I'll pay her back. Don't worry."

********

Ranma stretched and yawned as he quietly padded down the hallway, pausing at the door to the room Akane had been given. This was odd, she was usually up before him.

"Akane, are you in there?" he asked banging on the door. After a moment the door swished open showing Akane, still in her hybrid form, and looking very tired.

"How do you do it?" she demanded.

"Do what?" he asked surprised.

"Change back," Akane said irritably.

"Oh," Ranma said and scratched his head nervously. "I guess I can show ya. I think."

"You think?" Akane repeated.

"At least you're...uh...cute," Ranma said. "And I think we're supposed to stay in hybrid form while we're at this other place."

"I'd like to be able to fit in with my normal friends still," Akane said. Considering events in Nerima, she didn't really have to worry about this, but she didn't know that. "And...did you just call me cute? Or is that just the jet lag?"

"Uhh, jet lag?" Ranma suggested.

"Right," Akane said smirking. "Now, how am I supposed to change back?"

"Can I come in?" Ranma asked. Akane nodded and Ranma strode in, sitting at the empty desk in the guestroom as it closed up. "This place is bigger than the Kuno mansion."

"Well?" Akane asked.

"It's like a focus," Ranma said. "You know how you visualize breaking the bricks before ya hit 'em right?"

"Yeah," Akane answered.

"Same thing really," Ranma said. "Just visualize what it feels like to be human and everything. See, watch." 

Ranma took a breath and Akane watched him fill out the baggy Chinese clothes he was wearing. Fill them out and stretch them. Akane swallowed nervously and tried to focus past "impure thoughts" as Ranma finished transforming. She had a sudden image of running wildly through tall grass with someone stalking her. Of course the disturbing thing was she wouldn't mind being caught, was even considering turning around to make the chase shorter.

"So, try it," Ranma said.

"Excuse me," Akane said. "What?" She blinked and lifted her eyes up to focus on Ranma's face.

"Are you sure you don't want to get some sleep first?" Ranma asked, leaning in and sniffing.

~He really is well built,~ Akane was thinking, though part of her was trying to annihilate those impure thoughts. Most of the rest of her was remembering Nabiki suggesting she make a move.

"You even smell tir-mmph!" Ranma blinked in surprise as Akane wrapped her hands around him. Then he relaxed and circled his own arms around her. Ranma's stomach growled loudly and Akane snickered.

"You know," she said saucily, borrowing a tone voice she'd heard Shampoo use. Or maybe it was Nabiki. "I wouldn't mind you eating me, as long as it was done right." It produced a really weird image in her mind, and she suddenly wondered if she had just said something perverted. 

"Ummmm," Ranma blinked. "What?" Akane blushed enough that her temperature rose.

"It's hard to explain..." she said. ~Especially when I'm not certain about what it is.~

They were interrupted by the sound of a pounding on the closed door.

"Who is it?" Akane called out. Ranma kept his mouth shut.

"It's Auntie Saotome," Nodoka's voice came from the other sign of the door. Ranma and Akane instantly separated.

"Oh, uhhh...can I do anything for you?" Akane asked.

"I was thinking to warn you that you should get some more sleep," Nodoka's said. "Apparently Jade operates on the same day schedule as this place. So you should perhaps go to bed soon."

"Thanks," Akane said, nervously. "I'll try to get to...uh...bed right away." Ranma looked extremely nervous at that statement.

********

"I'll see you in the morning then, Akane-chan," Nodoka said smirking as she walked along.

"Wasn't Ranma in there?" Ranko asked darkly next to her. Nodoka glanced at her, concerned.

"Does anybody else smell mice?" Brianna asked. Ranko glanced back at the receding door.

"Brianna-san," Nodoka said. "I need to speak to my daughter for a moment."

"Sure." Brianna said after a moment.

"Do you...have feelings for Akane?" Nodoka asked cautiously.

"What do you mea-" Ranko's went wide. She couldn't really guess that. "Not like that!?"

"Then you have to expect that they'll pay more attention to each other at times," Nodoka said. "And it's about time."

"But..."

"Now, we should get back to bed," Nodoka said, apparently unaware that there was any further problem.

"Yeah, I guess," Ranko muttered. 

Ranko was soon in her room, laying on her bed and thinking about Akane. She didn't know what she felt for Akane any more. She didn't really feel attracted to any of the girls, but she didn't feel attracted to the guys either. In fact, other than Akane, she, and she assumed Ranma, had never really felt attracted to anybody since Jusenkyo. Before that, well it had been a long time alone with their pop. 

The only other exception was when Ryouga had hit her with that fishing rod. Though she was a little flattered at some of the attention she had gotten. Or she would have been if most of it hadn't been forced on with metal girdles or drugged tea or stupid poetry or whatever.

"You'd think Jusenkyo had us all screwed up or something," Ranko muttered quietly and tried to go to sleep and NOT think about what might or might not be happening in Akane's room between her "brother" and the girl she...was really confused about.

********

Ranma released a long breath as they heard Nodoka and the other sets of footsteps head away from the door.

"That was close," Ranma said. "Want to save this for tomorrow then?" He sounded almost hopeful. Akane looked at him and then sat down on the bed sighing.

"I guess I'm not all that cute then," Akane said.

"What?" Ranma gasped. "Where'd you get that?" He walked over and sat down next to her.

"Any time it gets close to something happening," Akane said irritably. "You back off and act like I've got the plague or something. Is there something wrong with me?"

"No," Ranma said.

"Then why?" Akane demanded. She didn't know whether she was becoming more instinctual with her newfound heritage or if Nabiki's warning was provoking her to action or what. She didn't really care either. Ranma mumbled something. "What was that?"

"I don't want ta hurt you," Ranma said quietly.

"Hurt me?" Akane repeated darkly. "What does THAT mean?"

"Well, I told you," Ranma said. "You're supposed to save this stuff..."

"For someone you care about," Akane said, rolling her eyes. "I get it."

"Yeah, so why me?" Ranma asked Akane blinked and turned to Ranma in a little bit of disbelief, with a mix of sudden realization.

"You mean every time you said that," Akane started. "You were wondering why I would care about you?"

"Uhh...yeah," Ranma said. Akane blinked and stared forward for a moment.

"Oh," Akane said. A splash of blue in the room caught Ranma's eyes and he glanced in that direction.

"What's that?" Ranma asked. Akane glanced in that direction and blushed, though it was hard to see under the gray fur.

"My panties," Akane said, then cleared her throat. "They were a little too uncomfortable with the tail." Ranma seemed to blush at that point as well.

"Yeah, it's the same with me," Ranma said. "But I just slip it over the waistband and deal with it. What are you wearing if you don't have on the panties."

"I could show you," Akane said quietly. Ranma suddenly looked tongue-tied.

"W...wh...whattya mean by that?" Ranma asked. Akane shuffled uncomfortably before leaning up and kissing Ranma again. They fell back on the bed, Akane landing heavily on top of Ranma. The kiss broke in the landing and Ranma desperately sputtered out "don't ya think we should wait til we get married?"

Akane didn't answer back, face just buried in between Ranma's neck and shoulder.

"Akane?" Ranma asked worriedly. His answer was a snore. Ranma sweatdropped and lay back with a mixture of relief and frustration.

********

Nabiki stared at herself in the mirror. She had no problem recognizing what kind of werecreature she had turned into. Rounded ears, sharp front teeth, a furry brown coat and a long slender tail. She could just hear the jokes already.

"Always knew she was a rat," Nabiki muttered as she adjusted her clothes to be more comfortable with the tail.

She stretched out and headed for the kitchen, after figuring out where to go from the "you are here maps," on the wall. She hadn't gone more than a mile before she heard something she would have rather avoided.

"This infernal prison will not contain the might of the true scion of the house of Kuno for long," a voice raged from the door she was walking by.

"Oh, wonderful, the Furinkan Flop's awake," Nabiki said. She considered that for a moment. ~Hmm, and all I have to do is tell the truth.~

"You foul sorcerers cannot keep me confined for long," Kuno shouted. "Not matter that you have me locked in a room without doors!" Nabiki walked over and knocked on the door.

"Hey, Kuno," Nabiki called out. "Have you tried the button marked 'OPEN' on the wall over here?"

"Of course I have not fallen for such a simple ploy," Kuno snapped. "Who is out there that is trying to fool the Blue Thunder so?"

"It's me Kuno Baby," Nabiki responded irritably. "Nabiki Tendo."

"Oh yes," Kuno said a little calmer. "I should have recognized the waspish personality. Do you have a cold, Nabiki Tendo, your voice sounds a little squeaky." Nabiki glared at the closed door.

"I'm fine, Kuno," Nabiki said icily.

"And just how did you escape the clutches of our foreign captors?" Kuno asked.

"I pushed the OPEN button," Nabiki said dryly, tapping her feet. "Listen Kuno, I'm hungry, so unless you have any other questions I'd like to walk the rest of the mile to the nearest kitchen."

"Ah, yes, what news do you have of the werecheetahs and that fiendish sorcerer Saotome?" Kuno demanded.

~Kuno, you are too predictable,~ Nabiki smirked. "Oh the werecheetahs are Ranma and his sister."

"I knew that fiend was nothing human, he shall yet know fear at the righteous wrath of..." Kuno paused in confusion. "Sister?"

"Yes, I think you know her," Nabiki said. "Ranko. The pig-tailed girl?" ~Hook.~ There was silence.

"That fiend has inflicted this hideous curse upon his own sister!?" Kuno ranted. "Release me from this cell that I may correct this vile injustice!"

"Actually they were born that way," Nabiki said. "Just like Akane and me." ~Line.~

"What is this you say about the beauteous Akane?" Kuno asked.

"Well, apparently we have some family history," Nabiki said. "That reacted with getting scratched by a lycanthrope by...well, I guess it's better to show you." 

She reached over and pushed the button to open the door. Kuno stood just on the other side of the door and looked down at a furry, brown...person that somewhat resembled a slimmer Nabiki.

"Nabiki...Tendo?" Kuno asked.

"You got it Kuno Baby," Nabiki said. "Apparently somebody in our family tree was a wererat, and well when Ranma or Ranko scratched us, suddenly we're like this."

"Hmph," Kuno said. "I always knew that you were of the darker nature, Nabiki Tendo, and now I see your true colors as one of the Nezumi...did you say we? Do you mean that your sister is equally afflicted?"

"Bingo, Kuno-chan," Nabiki said. She watched his rage build up with a smirk. ~Sinker.~

"That fiend!" Kuno shouted. "I shall send him screaming back to hell for this effrontery!" And Kuno was gone down the hallway.

"Have fun Kuno-Baby," Nabiki said. She shrugged and started back on the trek to the kitchen, smiling in amusement at the probable results of this conversation.

********

"Oh, Ranma-Darling," Kodachi moaned as she woke up, snuggling against Genn. The rakshasha didn't think she was quite awake yet. 

Unfortunately he hadn't had much choice other than to starve. Séance was in Jade and that left Brianna and Gina. Either of those two terrified him more than Kodachi could. She had the right attitude, she just needed a few more years of experience.

"Oh, Raaanmaaa," Kodachi muttered again, laughing amusedly. 

Genn sweated a little and worried that she might not wake up before he went to sleep. Which was about when the beeping at the door was heard. Sort of like someone trying to open the door to the room. Genn looked up and saw the hallway lights filtering in past a tall silhouette.

"Ahh, there you are foul demon!" the figure shouted, waking up Kodachi who sat up and angrily covered herself. Genn grabbed his t-shirt and shorts to do likewise. "And what helpless woman is this that you have dared to sully..."

"Brother-dear," Kodachi snapped angrily. "Would you please leave me and my Ranma-darling alone."

~Brother,~ Genn thought. ~Uh oh.~

"Saotome…" Kuno growled. "You dare to corrupt my sister?"

"But I'm not Ranma," Genn said desperately.

"Brother, if you could please stay out of my affairs," Kodachi retorted. "Now if you would-"

"Ahh, the sorcerer's might has clouded her-" Kuno paused a moment.

"Pardon," Kodachi turned to face Genn. "What was that?"

"I told you this before," Genn said nervously. "I'm not Ranma." His Ranma form faded into his neutral body.

"I vaguely remember some sort of story about feeding on my energy," Kodachi said dangerously, as she noted Genn's shape changing. ~And I thought that was Ranma playing games. On the other hand, I wonder just how many shapes this being can take. Hmmm.~ Genn caught that stray thought and turned nervously to look at Kodachi.

"At last you have shown your true colors demon!" Kuno shouted as he saw Genn's horned form.

"What!?" Genn snapped.

"Have at thee, villain!" Kuno shouted charging forward. Genn ducked the bokken that seemed to come out of nowhere and took to the hallway. "You'll not escape that easily!" And Kuno was after him.

"Brother, why must you always interfere in my life?!" Kodachi demanded as she started to gather her clothes together. She paused a moment. "Though he did deceive me, hmmm, perhaps a little retribution is in order."

********

Ukyou snapped awake to the sounds of "Stop vile sorcerer!" and "I'm not him!!" She rubbed at her eyes and yawned. She could already tell that it wasn't Ranma and was probably just some poor schmoe that Kuno had mistaken for Ranma. A shout about "defiling my sister" brought it all together for Ukyou.

"I should probably make sure he doesn't hurt the weird guy," Ukyou sighed. "I sound funny." She felt a little strange too, and her clothes were really tight. She sat up and watched with a little wonder as a long tail curled around and settled in her lap. She blinked for a couple seconds and grew a huge a smile.

"YEESSS!!!"

********

The sound of Genn being chased through the hallways awakened almost everybody. Akane, Ranko, and Ranma were all deep enough into sleep that it would take an earthquake to wake them up. Gina had fallen asleep in the lab and so wasn't near the commotion. Theo and Julia were, of course, in the actual mansion, which put them a couple miles further away than Gina.

Kuno was made aware of this when he was suddenly hanging in mid air, just when he had cornered the foul demon too.

"What sorcery is this?!" Kuno demanded.

"That would be my doing," Stripe said behind Kuno, the samurai turned about in the air to face the Kryn.

"Oh thank the heavens," Genn said, panting and going down to his knees. 

The rakshasha looked past the floating Kuno to see a rather irritable Brittany and Stripe. Behind them were Brianna and Nodoka. Kodachi and another werecheetah, probably that Ukyou girl, were a few yards further back, trying not to be seen.

"Do you know what time it is?" Brittany said. "What are you doing?"

"I am seeking to do my righteous duty and smite the foul Saotome, that I might free Akane, and the pig-tailed girl from this vile curse that he has laid upon them!"

"I didn't catch most of that," Brittany said. "What did he say?"

"Don't look at me," Brianna said.

"It is rather archaic, Nodoka agreed. "I think he believes that that small fellow is my son and that killing him will cure Ranko and Akane," she paused a moment to sniff the air. "Could you please come forward?"

Ukyou flinched and then shrugged, stepping forward to speak to Nodoka. Kodachi sneered, glanced in the direction of the motion and froze. Kodachi growled irritably and Ukyou gave her a smug look.

"I thought you said you weren't injured," Nodoka said coolly.

"Ah ha!" Kuno snapped. "The foul being has enslaved further women to his evil power."

"I'm not him!" Genn declared irritably.

"Forget it, Genn," Brittany said. "He's an idiot."

"Never fear, fair lady," Kuno said. "I shall endeavor to free you as well, from the clutches of this evil sorcerer who is no doubt an ally of the damned Saotome."

"I think he just called you an evil sorcerer, Muffin," Brittany said angrily.

"Hey," Brianna said, yawning, before Stripe could respond. "While we're all up and you got him hanging there, can I use him for target practice?"

********

Nabiki tapped her fingers against the table, bored out of her skull. So far the high point of the night had been playing with Kuno's tiny mind. Well, maybe not, it might have been the Swiss cheese sandwich she had made in the Diggers' kitchen. It was mind numbingly dull to be the only awake person in speaking distance.

So she was incredibly glad to see Nodoka as the sun was starting to rise.

"Oh good," Nabiki said. "I was about to get desperate."

"Nabiki?" Nodoka asked, looking the wererat over.

"That's right, Auntie, it's me." Nabiki said. "I'm sure a lot of people are going to think this is appropriate."

"Your reputation is your own doing," Nodoka noted. She cautiously sat down across from Nabiki. "So you and Akane are rats, I thought I smelled mice." Nabiki blinked and stared cautiously at Nodoka.

"Not getting any...ideas," Nabiki asked. "Are you?"

"Really, Nabiki-chan," Nodoka said. "I am a civilized, sentient being, not some beast." She directed a toothy smile at Nabiki, rather disturbing even in her human form.

"I...uh think that Akane and I should be finding a plane back to Nerima now," Nabiki said, sweating a little. She was heading for the door when Nodoka burst out into laughter, Nabiki frowned and slowly turned a glare towards Nodoka.

"That isn't funny," Nabiki said.

"Maybe you don't think so," Nodoka said, smirking. Nabiki crossed her arms irritably, and Nodoka snickered a little before turning a little serious. "We should be getting started soon, could you go wake up your sister?"

"I got that," Ranko's voice called from the hallway.

"I wonder how she'll react if Ranma is still in the room," Nodoka said. Nabiki blinked and stared at her.

~Where's my camera!~ Nabiki thought rushing out the room after Ranko.

********

"Good morning," Akane said as she noticed Ranma waking up.

"Uh," Ranma started nervously. "Good morning?" Akane smiled like the cat that swallowed the canary. Or perhaps the mouse that belled the cat. Ranma hoped that meant she hadn't forgotten who had put them in this situation.

"We didn't get anything done last night," Akane said, which was about the point Ranma noticed that at some point after he had fallen asleep she had taken off her blouse. 

Akane's slimmed down waist and hips, combined with a slight increase in size, gave her a much better endowed image. Especially in a slightly too small bra. 

Ranma turned even more nervous as he realized that, under the blankets, her skirt was gone too. Then the door wooshed open.

"Akane," Ranko called as she came in. "Mom said we're going to-" Akane and Ranma stared at her wide-eyed as she stared back. A flash brought all three of them out of their stupor.

"Good morning, um, sis?" Ranma said, still being very careful of what he said. 

Ranko stared forward in total shock and disbelief, an expression actually mirrored by Ranma earlier. The difference being Ranma's expression hadn't faded quiet so quickly, and it didn't fade into anger.

"Now there's a Kodak moment," Nabiki said.

"Doesn't anybody bother to knock!?" Akane shouted.

"SORRY TO INTERRUPT!!" Ranko responded and whirled around to walk out. "Out of the way Nabiki!!" She nearly shoved Nabiki out of the way and would have slammed the door close if she could. She settled for denting the wall.

********

Nodoka and Nabiki sat and watched Akane and Ranko glare at each other. Ranma sat nervously to one side.

"Some sort of family problem?" Julia asked as she came into the room.

"Sounds like Ranko caught Ranma and Akane being good fiancees," Brianna said quietly. 

"Do you think the girl's attracted to the Tendo woman?" Julia asked, frowning. Brianna shrugged. "Well, wererats, huh?"

"Yep," Brianna said. "I can't wait for Brit to see this."

"Oh, so that's where the smell she's talking about is coming from," Stripe said entering the small kitchen. "Brittany's already looking for them."

********

"Here mousey, mousey," Brittany called out, with narrowed eyes as she snuck through the hallway. She had woken up with the smell of wererat hanging around the hallways of the lab's living quarters. "I know you're around here somewhere."

"Uh, Brit," Gina said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "What are you doing with that butterfly net?"

"Those wererats are back," she said irritably. "Maybe not the same ones, but there's a rat or two around here somewhere." She looked under an overturned laundry basket that was there pretty much just to give her something to turn over.

"Have you checked the upstairs kitchen yet?" Gina asked. She pointed to the security monitor.

"Huh?" Brittany asked. She glanced at the security camera long enough to identify a pair of wererats sitting in the kitchen upstairs with her sister, mother, and some of the guests. Obviously plotting something. "Ah ha!!" And Brittany was off.

"Brit! Wait!" Gina called out, then she smacked her forehead and groaned.

********

"We have another problem too," Brianna said. She pointed to another corner to where Ukyou was sitting down and also glaring at Ranma and Akane.

"Didn't she say she wasn't cut?" Julia asked coolly.

"Yep," Brianna said. "Dad's just gonna love this."

Then there was a rush of wind and a butterfly net suddenly came down over Nabiki's head.

"Ah ha! I got you this time!" Brittany said. "No bells around this cat's neck. And don't you move either girl, I got my...why's everyone looking at me like that?"

"This is what they mean by karma," Nabiki said. "Isn't it?"

********

"This isn't a game," Dr. Diggers said seriously to the new werecheetah. Behind him preparations were being made for the extended trip to Jade. "You can get into serious trouble as a werecreature."

"Oh, come on," Ukyou pleaded. "Nobody is going to mistake me for a guy like this!" Sweatdrops abounded.

"If there weren't so few werecheetahs I wouldn't even consider this," Theo said wearily.

"What?!" Gina snapped in shock.

"Wait a minute," Ukyou said smirking. "Does that mean I get to keep this?"

"But, fair damsel," Kuno said. "Can you not see that the man is offering you a cure for this affliction."

"Would that I had such an 'affliction' Brother-dear," Kuno said. "Certainly the serving maid has used unfair means to ATTEMPT to match my beauty."

"Hmph," Kuno snorted. "No beauty could match the fiery spirit of the...spotty girl. Certainly her change in appearance is a sign of her breaking away from the evil sorcerer's power" Ranko, who had been avoiding looking at Ucchan and Kodachi, winced at the sound of that.

~Yeah,~ Ranko said. ~Like Ranma doesn't have the same hair color now.~

"Would you lay off her, you jerk?" Ukyou demanded.

"Yes, Brother," Kodachi agreed. "The girl does not want your attentions, why not leave her be."

"See the foul sorcery has already afflicted your mind!" Kuno declared.

"Can I stay like this or not?" Ukyou asked, ignoring Kuno. 

Ukyou glanced past the mage and glared at Ranma and Akane. She hadn't really considered the effect becoming a werecat would have on Ranma and Ranko. However, it was pleasant for the moment to terrorize the "cheating" jerk. Not too mention the position this put her in with Akane. She smirked as she considered playing a little cat and mouse, in a very different way from the Akane's ideas for Ranma.

"I'll have to make sure you can't inflect anyone else," Theo said reluctantly. Ukyou was leaping up and cheering before he could go on. "It would take a much more serious injury for you to do that, but just in case."

"What happened to the whole lecture thing?" Gina asked.

"It is not something I'd ever suggest inflicting on yourself," her father said. "But she's already changed, and she doesn't seem to want to be cured. Which will make it quite a bit harder to do so."

"Uh huh," Gina said, already starting to pout. "And the whole slave thing?"

"Of course, if whichever one it is decides to take control of her," Theo said seriously. "Then we'll have two problems to take care of."

"Besides," Theo said. "I'm sure there are times that an inability to handle silver would have caused you an incredible amount of trouble. Maybe even cost something you couldn't get back." He glanced to Brittany who shuffled uncomfortably.

"Yeah," Gina said, sobering. ~Not to mention all those valuable silver trinkets.~

"Does this mean I get to go to?" Ukyou asked.

Julia thought about it a moment, but was cut off.

"There is a limit to the number of people I can transport myself," Theo said. Julia gave him a sidelong glance, but only for a moment.

"I'm sure Brittany can teach you the ins and outs of being a werecreature," Theo said. He glanced towards Nabiki. "Both of you."

~I have to teach them?~ Brittany asked. ~Even the rat? Hmm...~

~Miss butterfly net is going to teach me?~ Nabiki thought. She looked at how Brittany was looking at her and was actually nervous again.

"Leave my Ranchan with that home wrecker?" Ukyou snapped. Ranma winced at the glares he was receiving, even from Ranko.

"Who are you calling a home wrecker?" Akane snapped angrily.

"Who do you think?" Ukyou asked, taking a step forward.

"Question," Kodachi put forward. Theo turned to look at her. "Is that shapechanger leaving with you as well?" Sweatdrops again abounded.

********

"So why did you lie to that girl?" Julia asked curiously. "We could have handled one more person."

"Oh don't you know?" Theo asked, smirking.

"I say it would be to give those kids time away from a few romantic complications," Julia said, smirking. "Still the same old romantic, eh?"

"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black," Theo asked with a smile.

********

Those staying on Earth waved good bye as the party leaving for Jade walked through the dimensional portal. Then it closed and the room was just a room again. All involved watched the space where the portal had been a little worriedly.

"At least this should be a simple deal," Gina said. "A week or two of training, and they're back. No attempt to take over Jade at least. And no real problems over here." She sighed and turned around to switch on the television and blinked at the news story running on the TV.

"Since the first appearance in Nerima," the newscaster was saying. "There has now been a confirmed reports of lycanthropy in the ward, a formerly normal girl. Apparently she was involved in a scuffle between of the ward's resident loonies and a cheetah. To be specific she dragged the cheetah off so that she could beat on the individual herself, along with several other students. The girl in question has vanished and authorities are now looking for other people involved in this potential health crisis."

Hearing their town's name, Kodachi, Nabiki, and Ukyou turned toward the television. Brittany looked upon hearing the report of a new lycanthrope, Stripe along with her.

"Correction," Gina said. "We've got a big problem."

********

"Children," Lord Gothwrain said angrily. "I believe you were in Japan when this catastrophe was arising."

"Uh..."

"Don't try to deny it," the elder wererat said. "You were caught on film."

"That guy is much better than Brittany Diggers," Lydia said.

"Yes, I saw the footage," Gothwrain said. "You probably would have indeed been destroyed if you took him on. This situation, however, cannot be tolerated."

"If the press knows about one, there's probably lots!" Romeo pointed out.

"We'd be like, ripped to pieces," Moisha said.

"Fear is not something that a wererat warrior should experience," Gothwrain said irritably. "It is something they should invoke."

"Yes, Lord Elder," the three young rats said.

"Luckily these will almost all be inflicted werecreatures," Gothwrain said. "They can be cured. It is only those that do not wish to be cured that will need to be dealt with. Now, we must discuss the matter of how you've embarrassed us in public." He gestured toward their engraved silver daggers.

With a shaky grasp the three wererats prepared to hold the blades to their throats until Gothwrain gave leave to set the silver down.

********

"Maybe we should stay in Japan a little bit longer," Pee Wee smiled as he listened to the news.

********

"So what're we doing here?" Ranma asked.

"Well, first of all," Julia said. "I would like all of you to change to your hybrid forms."

"Do we have to?" Ranko asked, shuffling nervously.

"Yes," Nodoka said firmly.

"Why?" Ranma asked.

"You have to get used to it," Nodoka said. "It is your natural form now, and you must be able to live with it."

"Plus, people in Jade tend to look at lycanthropes in human form as you would a person carrying a hidden weapon," Julia said. "Lycanthropes are common place, but people are more comfortable in knowing just what kind of person they are dealing with."

"I don't have much choice right now," Akane said. "Do I?"

"Suits you just fine," Ranko muttered, shifting into hybrid form. She watched Ranma and her mother shift as well and started to shake nervously. 

"What is that supposed to mean?" Akane demanded.

"What's it sound like?" Ranko asked.

"Hey," Ranma snapped. "Why are you gettin after her?"

"Don't worry, BROTHER!" Ranko snapped. "I'm not just mad at her!" For the moment anger seemed to overcome fear.

"Ranko, stop this now." Nodoka frowned and started to approach her daughter, she stopped when Ranko flinched back.

Brianna glanced between Ranko and Nodoka and then walked over to the girl.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Brianna asked. "Over here."

"What about?" Ranko demanded.

"Your attitude," Brianna said, dragging along the girl over for a private chat.

"This is going to be a long trip," Theo said under his breath.

"That is the worst understatement I've ever heard," Julia said.

********

"Who are you to talk to me about my attitude?" Ranko demanded. "You don't even know me."

"Maybe I..." she stopped herself. "No, I don't, but I can tell when someone is being an ass."

"I'M being a jerk!" Ranko demanded. 

"Yeah," Brianna said. "Are you jealous or something?"

"No!" Ranko insisted.

"Well you certainly act like it," Brianna said.

"And why would I be jealous of them?" Ranko asked. "Ranma is family...in a manner of speaking. And Akane is..." She fidgeted uncomfortably. "Well, I don't care what my pop had planned after the curse, I am not like that." Brianna released a long breath at that. 

"That's one less complication then," Brianna said, then winced and looked to the glaring Ranko.

"You didn't really think..."

"No, of course not," Brianna said smiling nervously. "Why would I think that?" Ranko frowned and kicked at a rock.

"Because Ranma likes girls and I'm Ranma's girl side," Ranko said quietly. "Mom wondered about that too."

"Nobody ever said anything like that," Brianna said nervously.

"I'm not stupid," she snapped. "Nabiki threatened Ranma. Akane yelled at Ranma. Ukyou is after Ranma. My mom wanted me to be a 'man among men.' Kodachi is after Ranma. Kuno hates Ranma." She paused a moment. "Okay, those last two were bad examples."

"Well, that doesn't mean anything," Brianna tried desperately

"I make Ukyou look feminine," she said each word deliberately, emphasizing the chef's name heavily.

"She's the one I thought was a guy until I smelled her, right?" Bri asked. Ranma nodded, she looked down and noted how she was shedding. The added stress wasn't helping her attitudes toward cats.

"That's her," Ranko said.

"No one is going to mistake YOU for a guy," Brianna assured her.

"Actually," Ranko said. "I am one...sort of...I think. Anyway everybody is going to think I'm RANMA no matter WHAT I am!!"

"Well," Brianna said nervously. "That might be a problem."

"You think?" Ranko asked.

"But that's not the problem your worried about," Brianna said.

"Yeah, I know," Ranko said. "It's just that...first chance she gets to have Ranma without me and she's acting like Shampoo. I don't understand girls...or guys for that matter. Neither does Ranma actually."

"I thought you said you weren't jealous," Brianna said crossing her arms.

"I'm not," Brianna said. "But everybody..."

"You think they're trying to cut you out, huh?" Bri asked. Ranko muttered something unintelligible. "Well cut people some slack, okay? There's a lot of stress going around."

"Fine, I'll cut them some slack," Ranko said finally. "But I don't have to like it."

"Fair enough," Brianna said. "Just remember you're not the only one to suddenly pop into existence like that."

"That mind reader isn't listening in on us," Ranko asked. "Is he?" They traded looks and glanced to the rest of the party and noticed Genn flinching. Both narrowed their eyes dangerously.

********

"Hey," Ranma said. "Are you okay, dude? You suddenly turned really pale."

"I'm fine," Genn said nervously. ~Until they get over her and rearrange my body parts in ways I won't like..~ The rakshasha swallowed as the two girls stomped back.

"Everything taken care of?" Julia asked.

"Almost everything," Ranko said, crossing her arms and staring at Genn.

"How do you expect me to translate for you if I don't listen in?" Genn asked.

"I speak Japanese," Brianna reminded the rakshasha. "I don't need translation to talk to her."

"Ummm," Ranma said, pointing over the two girl's shoulders.

"Not right now, Ranma," Ranko snapped.

"I think you should look," Akane said nervously.

"After we reprimand this eavesdropper," Brianna said. Genn swallowed nervously and glanced past them.

"What is it?!" Ranko demanded, she turned around and winced. "Oh, hi mom." Brianna twitched and slowly turned around to see her parents staring at her crossly.

"Mom, dad," she said. "Something wrong?"

"Are we finished with the pointless bickering?" Nodoka asked, repeating Julia's question. "Or should we proceed to set camp for the night?" Ranko was merely chattering her teeth now staring wildly. Nodoka blinked as she recognized the signs and backed away quickly.

"We don't have time for this, young lady," Theo agreed. "We need to get to the retreat as soon as...Miss Saotome?"

"I think I may have forgotten myself," Nodoka said sadly as Ranko stood there.

"Y..y..yeah," Ranma said. "A..any more of that and she'd have been gone."

"Dear," Julia said hesitantly. "Perhaps it would be best if she got a little rest to calm down?" Ranma and Akane, doubting her ability to calm Ranko down, nodded fervently.

Several minutes later saw Brianna walking along behind them with a loudly snoring Ranko on her back.

"Why do I have to carry her?" Brianna whined.

********

The Minister of Public Health in Japan was on the verge of something similar to a cardiac arrest. At least that was his opinion of his current health. He wasn't really a doctor, though he played one quite often in private, just a successful politician so he couldn't really be sure. However with all this junk going on it couldn't have been anything but a coronary that was giving him these headaches.

Yes, such are the wonders of politics and bureaucracy that one can't tell the difference between a stress headache and a heart attack.

At any rate, first it was those damn martial artists. The only good thing about that was that they had been causing the Ministry of Public Works even bigger coronaries. NOW, however, there was an epidemic to consider. That was clearly his responsibility, so of course he freaked whenever he got another call, expecting to hear another increase in the number of werecreatures.

He was fairly certain that they were quarantined, but then again, it seemed to be a very virulent disease. If only he could figure out how it was transmitted. His employees had said something about claws and teeth, but obviously they had seen too many gaijin horror films.

Still, it was almost enough to make a person believe in something like magic. Or at least the ki stuff those Nerimites were always talking about.

Politics and bureaucracy truly are amazing things.

He'd have to talk to his uncle about vacation time.

So is nepotism.

When the phone rang he could have slammed his head into the ceiling above him.

"Yes, Ministry of Health!" he answered shakily. "You have a cure!" He stood up and nearly shouted his joy to the heavens until the person on the phone cut him off. "Your father has a cure, but you can find a place to put the already infected people until he gets back. Okay. I guess this means we won't have defoliate the Ward. When can you be over? Great! We'll be waiting!"

********

"Hey, Brit," Gina said, looking confused as she sat down the phone. "Does plant killer do anything to werecheetahs?"

"Makes us sick just like anybody else," Brittany said.

"It doesn't kill you, though?" Gina pressed further.

"Of course not, that would be stupid," Brit said.

"That's what I thought."

********

As the Minister of Health danced in victory at his wondrous plan to end the epidemic, the phone rang again. He snapped up the phone in a very cheerful mood.

"Ministry of Health," he said. "Oh, don't worry, I've got it solved."

********

"He, like, hung up on me," Moisha said. "But he said he'd, like, solved it."

"I guess we won't be able to go to Japan then," Romeo said.

"Oh well," Lydia said sighing. "That's that then."

"I shall inform Lord Gothwrain immediatel..."

"WAIT!! WAIT!!"

"Let's get packed," Lydia said reluctantly.

********

"Something smells good," Ukyou said. Nabiki twitched.

"Like what?" Gina asked cautiously.

"Like her," Ukyou said pointing at Nabiki.

"Thank you," Nabiki said. "We've all heard the joke."

"No, no, it's a little spicier," Brittany said, tapping her chin. "And there's something familiar about it too."

"Can we just get on the plane before you guys scare this poor girl to death?" Gina asked.

"I am not scared," Nabiki protested. Then the stress balloon in her hand exploded. "I might be a little on edge."

"I'll figure it out later," Brittany said, shrugging. "So how are those rich kids getting back?"

"They have their own plane," Ukyou said.

"And 'Nezumi' are not welcome," Nabiki added. 

********

A few yards behind the Diggers and Nerimans, another group was looking about nervously.

"AHHH!" Moisha whined. "I'm like, all itchy and junk!"

"Well get used to it," Lydia said. "Or do you want all those werecats to know what we are on the spot?"

"And if that doesn't work," Romeo said dryly. "At least we'll give them a hefty case of indigestion from all these spices and pepper."

"I like, smell like Tex-Mex," Moisha continued to whine. "What if they just thinks that makes us just yummy?"

"Well, you kind of are," Romeo said.

"Like….DUHHH!" Moisha said. "I KNOW that. I meant the other kind of yummy!"

"Just get on the plane before it takes off," Lydia complained. "And stop scratching before you hurt yourself."

********

"This is quite a comfortable little town," Nodoka admitted, sitting across from Genn and the elder Diggers. "But I was curious about why the people were giving your daughter such evil looks as we passed through."

"Last time Brianna was here there was some...trouble," Genn explained.

"I...see," Nodoka said.

"Time to talk strategy here," Julia interrupted, before the conversation could get to far in the direction of "how my daughter and her alter ego rampaged through the sleepy town."

"What have you been doing yourself?" Theo asked.

"I have been trying to acclimate my...children," she said. She assumed that she had been working with both since they shared memories. "To their hybrid forms. I hope that when...they become used to their own bodies that it will be easier to accept others."

Julia glanced over at Ranma and Ranko where the other four people of their party were sitting. The Saotomes were sitting as far apart as their table allowed, but they didn't seem to be all that terrified. They did look tensed to run though and couldn't seem to keep from watching the other cautiously.

"How's that working?" she asked.

"Surprisingly well, actually," Nodoka said. "When we first started, Ranma could barely hold his own form for a minute before I had to help him return to human form."

"They seem to be handling themselves now," Julia said. ~Granted their tails are moving at about a league a second.~

"It's a little shaky," Genn said. 

"They don't seem to be dealing well with others yet," Theo noted.

"Are there not spells to remove a person's fear?" Nodoka asked.

"That isn't a good idea," the mage answered. "It's a crutch. Magic can be as addictive as anything else."

"I wouldn't like anybody casting that on someone who isn't suffering from a magical fear," Julia said.

"In other words they could grow dependent on the magic," Nodoka said. "I suppose we could start them trying to get used to each other then, and myself, of course. And you mentioned something about meditation techniques."

"I'd like to see how advanced their training is first," Julia said. "Neither seems the meditative type." Her husband cleared his throat and she smirked. "But neither am I so that's just fine."

"Oh no," Genn said. "This is going to be bad."

"Excuse me," Nodoka said turning to the rakshasha. "But what are you talking about?" Genn pointed and all eyes turned to the other table.

"Tirga," Julia moaned. "Just what we need."

********

"Well, isn't this a treat," Tirga said, smirking broadly. "Three very lovely ladies first thing in the morning." He didn't seem to see Ranma.

"Oh, Tirga," Brianna said in a sing song manner, smirking. "You're...personality is as...big as ever." She leaned forward on her elbows. "So..." she smiled. "...How's Sheila?"

"Oh Sheila's just fine," Tirga said waving that off. "But let's talk about you and your friends here."

"Oh don't you think they're a little young for you?" Brianna said in a pouty voice. "Now what you need is nice, energetic young woman that can REALLY put you in your place."

"You can always try, Miss Diggers," Tirga said. "And I'd say you're the youngest here."

"I think I'm quite a bit more than you can handle, cutey," Brianna purred. Certainly Sheila had a thing for the weretiger, whether she admitted it or not. That really didn't mean that Brianna couldn't toy with him a little. Besides, he WAS cute. Tirga's response was somewhat less than expected.

"Is there something wrong with your friend?" he asked.

"My friend?" Brianna repeated. "OH! Ranko!" She turned to see Ranko shedding loads of fur and her eyebrows arched fearfully, teeth chattering and tail fluffed out wide. Glancing over she saw Ranma in a similar state, though Akane was already calming him down.

"Oh, Ranko?" Tirga said. "What a lovely name for a lovely young..." He softly took her head, bent to kiss it in an overdone display, and was surprised as Ranko opened her mouth and screamed.

"C..c.c.c.CAT!!!!!!!!" And suddenly she was on the ceiling, and attracting a lot of confused stares. Aside from those that remembered Brianna's last visit, and they were quite concerned at the odd behavior.

"Another one of them Earthers is goin berserk!!!" somebody shouted before people started clearing the tavern.

Ranma wanted to run, he REALLY wanted to run, but he wasn't going to leave everybody behind with a giant cat that could turn on them at any moment. In consequence he was currently digging furrows into the tabletop.

"Would you just calm down?" Akane asked. "It's just an oversized pervert."

"Hey!" Tirga snapped back.

"Hey, Ranko, come back down here," Brianna shouted. "Tirga's too stupid to be a threat."

"HEY!" Tirga protested again.

"Can you change to your human form," Brianna asked ignoring the were-tigers protest.

"What?"

"She requested that you change to your human form," a voice said behind. "So that you can stop terrorizing my children." He turned to see a rather angry looking werecheetah and the Diggers.

"Umm...what?" Tirga asked, still completely confused as to the situation.

"That's okay, Nodoka," Julia said, looking very cross.

"We'd like to talk to him for a moment anyway," Theo said, head replaced by a flaming skull. Brianna paused in her attempts to get Ranko down from the ceiling. 

"Oh yeah," Brianna said. "I forgot to mention that my parents were at another table."

"Uh...heh," Tirga said. "Mrs. Diggers, Dr. Diggers. What's up?"

"You're not actually going try to protect HER from HIM," Genn asked. "Are you?"

"Maybe we should have a chat with you too, Genn," Julia said coolly. The rakshasha flinched.

"Umm, nevermind," he said nervously as Tirga was dragged away.

"Is..ss it g..g..gone?" Ranko asked quietly. Her eyes were closed and she was still gripping the ceiling.

"Yes dear," Nodoka said. "He's gone. You can come down now." Ranko creaked open an eye and saw her family, Brianna and Akane in the near empty tavern. She swallowed and dropped to the ground.

"S...s...sorry about that," Ranko said, quietly embarrassed. She was still shedding loads of fur and visibly shaking though.

"Hey, it's not your fault," Brianna said.

"That is correct," Nodoka agreed. "It is your father's fault."

"Ranma, will you let go of the table!" Akane asked.

"So much for acclimating them before they meet the Edge Guard," Genn sighed.

********

"Do we understand each other then?" Julia asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Tirga said.

"We're crystal clear," Theo double-checked, tapping his elbow.

"Yes, sir," Tirga said. "No seducing your daughters, got it. But, uh, what if they come to me?"

"If you get into a relationship with Gina or Brianna, Tirga," she said. "You better be serious about it, or you and I are going to 'spar'."

"And I'll prepare the field," Theo added, head still wrapped in the illusion of a flaming skull. Tirga swallowed nervously and nodded, or tried to.

"And then I'll talk to Sheila," Julia said. "I'm sure she would be upset with you for toying with her friends."

"Gotcha," Tirga said nervously. "Can I get up now?"

"Considering how fast you heal, I would say it's likely," Julia said. She casually dropped his arm and stepped off of him, stretching. Tirga sat up and gingerly rotated his shoulder.

"What was wrong with that other girl?" he asked seriously. Julia took a deep breath and scratched her head in frustration.

"She and her brother are afraid of cats," Julia said.

"But they're werecheetahs," Tirga said, sounding very confused.

"Yes," Dr. Diggers said. "But they only just discovered that."

"How do you 'just discover' something like that?" Tirga asked.

"It doesn't matter," Julia said. "What matters is that if you try something like that again it could be bad."

"Got it," Tirga said reluctantly. ~Well, there's still that tasty smelling girl.~

"Where's the rest of the Edge Guard?" Theo asked. "We should talk to them too."

"I don't know for sure," Tirga said. "We sort of split up for a little bit."

"Something going on?" Julia asked.

"Gar and Sheila ran into a werewolf mage a little bit ago," Tirga said. "Before they could explain he shouldn't be here he blew up the area he was in with some sort of spell and then vanished."

"Was anybody hurt?" Julia asked, concerned.

"Nothing major," Tirga said. "We split up to locate the asshole before something else happens. He was looking for somebody named Ranma."

"Did you say Ranma?" Theo asked.

"Yeah," Tirga said. "Kind of like the skittish girl out there."

"Right," Julia said. "That would be her brother, you know, the young man that you apparently didn't notice."

"There was somebody else there?" Tirga asked.

********

"Who are these people!?" Ryouga wondered frantically as he hid in the upper boughs of the tree. "Everywhere I go it's people with strange ki attacks and lots of sharp pointy silver things."

"I thought I saw him go this way!" someone shouted. Pretty soon a collection of people out of some sort of renaissance festival passed underneath him.

"Where on Earth am I now!?!" Ryouga shouted after he was certain they had gone by.

"Hey he's over this way," a voice said behind him. Ryouga froze and turned around to see that girl that was laughing at him before. He didn't look to see who else she was with before taking off.

Ryouga went barreling past a sign and up a rocky path. A few seconds later Sheila paused and turned back to the barbarians she was working with. She pointed to the "danger: falling rocks" sign.

"Either he's smart, crazy or just stupid," Sheila said, shaking her head. "I got this."

"Are you sure you can take him alone?" somebody asked.

"If he causes a landslide, I KNOW I'll live," Sheila said. "Besides, I don't think he's really trying to cause problems. I don't even think he knows where he is."

It was several minutes of tracking later when she heard the piercing scream, and then she found the remains of the landslide. She looked over the side of the cliff and slowly shook her head, tsking and smirking.

"That must have hurt," she said before starting to climb down. The signs of the landslide fell all the way into the river beneath. She saw the werewolf's pack and the rather too-small clothes, but no oversized panicky werewolf. "Okay, so maybe I'm looking for a wolf now."

"Arwee?"

Sheila whirled toward the sound and saw a cute, furry...something dragging itself out of the water. She walked over and scooped it up.

"Some sort of wizard's experiment?" she asked. 

The thing was about the size of a large cat, with relatively long legs, and hoofed feet. There was a piggish snout, triangular furred ears, thick black fur and a long canine tail. It seemed to recognize the fact that Sheila was talking about him a grumbled a little irritably.

"Smart little thing. Say...you wouldn't be our errant werewolf, would you?" The canine-pig shook his head fervently. "Well, it's the booby prize next to kapowieing that jerk we've been chasing all over the place." The pig winced. "You're pretty cute little runt, too bad I can't keep a pet really."

Sheila bent down to pick up the clothes and had to set the pig-thing down again. She still couldn't pick the pack up. She bent up and frowned.

"Great," she muttered. 

She shifted into her human form, growing in a couple of ways. She bent down again, bending at the knees and inadvertently giving the cursed Ryouga a good view of her hindmost quarters. Even in her human form she found it incredibly heavy.

"What the hell does he have in this pack?" Sheila asked. She slowly bent down to pick up the unconscious pig-dog and suddenly found the load on he back shifting. After she landed on the pig-thing with the pack on top of her she took a moment to growl. It was a funny sound in her human form. "I'm really gonna kapowie him before we send him back to Earth."

********

"Hey, where's Ranma?" Brianna asked as she came downstairs.

"They thought that maybe some sparring would calm him down," her father explained. "Your mother, his mother and Genn took him outside town to do that. How is his sister?"

"Akane's staying up with her to calm her down," Brianna said.

"I thought they weren't on civil terms with each other," Theo said.

"She wouldn't try to start a fight right now," Brianna said. "Would she?"

"Which one are you talking about," her father asked. "None of these kids are the most level-headed people I have met." Brianna thought about it a moment.

"Maybe I should go back and check on things," she decided.

********

"Are there gonna be any rules?" Ranma asked.

"Do you need any?" Julia asked.

"Not particularly."

"Then let's get started," Julia said, smirking. 

"All right," Ranma said with a matching smirk. He cracked his knuckles and slipped into stance.

"We should perhaps stand a little further back," Nodoka suggested as the two warriors started facing off in earnest. Genn looked at her and blinked. "You are the mind reader I believe, what would you say?"

"It's just hand to hand sparring," Genn said. "Right?"

Julia and Ranma stared at each other for several moments before either moved. Ranma, still a little edgy, lost his patience first and struck out in a probing series of jabs. The toned down attack received a welcome quite similar to what Brittany got when she underestimated her mother.

Ranma found himself being pulled forward, smirked a little as he hopped up into the air. Unlike Brittany, Ranma maintained most of the control of his flight. He twisted about pulling his legs down, intending to kick into Mrs. Diggers. His hand was released and his target rolled back. As his feet contacted the ground he immediately lifted off the ground again to avoid the expected strike.

It continued, counter versus counter, with no real successful action for quite a while. Each of them was a living encyclopedia of martial arts techniques and their counters. It was almost a full minute before any solid strike was landed.

In the end it was Ranma's habit of going airborne that was his downfall for once. Julia held down the werecheetah in the lock she had landed them in, smirking.

"You can't use all that speed when you're in the air," Julia pointed out as she let him up and stretched out the kinks.

"I don't need all my speed," Ranma protested, not looking so pleased anymore.

"I noticed you thought that," Julia smirked. "Shall we try this again?" She invited Ranma to come at her again. Ranma thought about it a moment before moving forward.

"This is going to take a while," Genn sighed.

"They do seemed fairly well matched," Nodoka noted.

********

"I can't do this," Ranko said, pacing frantically. "H...he touched me and I j...just couldn't take it...I'm gonna...I'm gonna..."

"Ranko," Akane said. "Sit down!" She stood up and forcibly sat the pacing werecheetah down on the bed. "You're driving me crazy!"

"That's right," Ranko said. "Crazy, just be a c...c...c..." Akane slapped her and she blinked and suddenly her eyes snapped clear. "Why did you do that?" she demanded angrily.

"You're being hysterical," Akane said. "You just saved this inn a fortune on carpeting." Ranko looked down to see the thick piles of fur on the floor.

"How do you expect me to act?" Ranko demanded. "I mean, all he did was touch me and I freaked. Actually, I freaked when he was talking to Brianna!"

"Well, Ranma was freaking to," Akane said. "But he's okay now, and you're still on edge."

"He didn't want to do to Ranma what he wanted to do to me," Ranko reminded her. "In case you haven't noticed."

"Okay, I noticed," Akane said irritably. "You're NOT Ranma. You're just a lazy tomboy! You didn't even practice today!!" Ranko sputtered for few seconds.

"Who are YOU calling a tomboy!?" Ranko demanded, ignoring the comment about her lack of practice. "You're stronger than a rabid gorilla with a temper to match!!" Akane's first statement came out of frustration with Ranko's attitude. Her response to the same insults coming out of Ranko was widely disproportional considering her already irritated state.

"I have nothing on you, girl!" Akane snapped back. Stepping forward and backing the taller werecheetah down. "You talk like a boy, you walk like a boy, you eat like a starving wolf, and you have no sense of modesty! The only thing you have that's feminine is your body! So don't YOU call ME a tomboy!" 

"And now you hit me, right!?" Ranko shouted back angrily, tears in her eyes.

"What?" Akane asked, surprised. The door to the room swung open and an angry Brianna strode in.

"What's going on in here?" Brianna demanded. She stomped over to the other two girls.

"I..." Akane hesitated, thinking about what she had just said. "Should go before I do something else stupid." Akane walked toward the door out of the room. "Sorry, Ranko." She said before leaving the room completely.

"What did she do?" Brianna asked sharply.

"She just yelled at me," Ranko said, sitting down. She looked over her knees and sighed. "I don't want to be a tomboy." Brianna sat down next to her.

"What do you want to be?" Brianna asked, Ranko shrugged. "Why don't you go take a soak in the hot-springs and relax?"

"Sure," Ranko said.

********

Tirga stretched his shoulder a little as he was walking through the hallway. He blinked when he noticed a door standing ajar. A quick sniff told him exactly who was in there. The weretiger smiled and groomed himself before walking inside.

"I just did someth-" Akane was saying as she heard Tirga step into the room. She stopped, if the sight of Tirga weren't enough evidence she had his scent as well. Akane's eyes narrowed angrily. "You're not Ranma."

"I'm sorry for intruding miss," Tirga said, smiling broadly and examining Akane's form. "I just saw the door ajar and..." He didn't notice the mallet hand flex.

********

"Almost there, Sheila," the jagwere was telling herself as she trudged on towards the inn with that pack on her back and that animal in her arms. By this time the pig-dog thing was acting very apologetic, but Sheila was too tired to notice. She stopped in the road to make a turn towards the inn when something came flying out of one of the upper stories.

"PERVERT!!!" somebody shouted along with the sound of broken glass. Sheila took a breath and glanced up in time to see Tirga landing on her.

"Man, who would have guessed that that little girl could pack such a punch," Tirga wondered as he sat up.

"Why don't we find out?!" a muffled voice shouted underneath him. "Get your useless bulk off me before I kapowie you into the next kingdom!!" Tirga stood up and looked down as a human form Sheila woozily stood up to glare at him.

"This just isn't my day," he sighed. Sheila grabbed at his tunic and pulled him down to look at her. He could hardly miss her pulling her hand back.

********

"I swear," Akane huffed as she looked out the window. "Some of these perverts are just unbelievable." She turned away from the window, mallet leaning on her shoulder, as the sound of a heavy thwack rang through the air.

"Akane! Are you..." Ranma stopped short at the sight of the mallet. "Uh...are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" Akane said, frustrated as she set the mallet down. "Just that pervert from before." She sat down on the bed and lay back. Ranma moved to sit at the side of the bed, moderately confused by Akane's behavior.

"Are you okay, Akane?" Ranma asked. "You've been acting sort of funny."

"So have you," Akane said. "I mean before you found out about this." Akane cut him off.

"Yeah, well..." Ranma shrugged. They were both thinking it, but neither needed to say it. Jusendo.

"I don't think I'm going to be welcome in the room with Brianna and Ranko," Akane said.

"Huh?" Ranma asked. "Why not?"

"I got in a fight with Ranko," Akane said.

"About what?" Ranma asked.

"It was my fault," Akane said. "I said something stupid, so she said something else, and I started yelling." She looked at Ranma sidelong. "I called her a tomboy."

"So, you did to her," Ranma said slowly. "What you're always complaining about me doing to you."

"I'm panicking here!" Akane said. "I'm not thinking!" Ranma glanced toward the door and fidgeted a little. "You want to make sure she's okay, don't you."

"Yeah," Ranma said.

"Then go do it," Akane said. "And tell her I'm sorry."

"Y...yeah," Ranma said before going out the door.

********

Down beneath Ranma's room Sheila was catching her breath as she stood over a much-abused Tirga.

"I thought I heard you out here," Brianna said as she came out. "Did Tirga tell you about the Saotomes?"

"Brianna?" Sheila blinked looking to her friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Aiding the mental health of a couple of kids," Bri said. "Hey Tirga, I guess you met Akane?"

"Who is Akane?" Sheila asked. Tirga rolled his eyes and pointed up. Eyes turned to look at the broken window.

"So that's how you got thrown out of the building," Sheila said.

"Oh yeah," Brianna said. "My parents want to talk to you about this werewolf running around."

"I had him until he escaped into a river," Sheila said. "At least SOME of us are actually working." She glared at Tirga.

"I looked for him," Tirga protested. "He just didn't happen to be where I was looking." Sheila glared at him.

"Chasing the wrong tails, tiger-boy," Sheila muttered before bending down and hefting Ryouga's packed. "Here! You can carry this for now!" She passed the pack to Tirga and snickered as the weretiger grunted in accepting it. "Okay, I can get out of this form now."

"Wait!" Brianna said. "Stay in human form!"

"What!? Why?" Sheila demanded. She blinked and looked around. "Did anybody see a weird little pig-dog thing running around here?"

********

Ranko was standing in the hot-springs as evening started to settle. She grumbled wordlessly for another few moments before finding somewhere to sit down and relax in the water.

Aside from her, the springs were empty. She leaned back and just tried to relax, it was a couple of minutes later when she detected the familiar, if altered scent. She blinked open an eye and saw a strange looking creature jump into the hot springs in front of her.

An instant later a large, furry and definitely male figure erupted out of the water, glaring at her.

"Ran--EEEK!" the shout was cut off by Ranko's swift kick to a rather vital region. 

Ryouga's eyes bulged as he doubled over and fell back into the water. By the time he fell Ranko had zipped out of the water, and put on her towel. She was glaring angrily at the pained intruder, and then blinked.

"Ryouga?" she said surprised. "What happened to you?"

"What did you do that for?" Ryouga squeaked. "And what did you do to your hair?"

"Oh, you like it?" Ranko asked, brushing at her hair.

"You didn't hit your head again, did you?" Ryouga asked warily.

Ranko frowned and started to stomp forward. In two steps her towel fell down giving Ryouga a full view. Ranko froze and immediately covered herself. Ryouga, used to the idea that Ranma's girl form wasn't a real girl, snickered at his rival's predicament.

Ranko growled, and zipped behind a rock taking her clothes with her, a moment later she was back, in a green skirt and a grey blouse. Ryouga blinked at the outfit as Ranko dragged him out of the pool.

"I'm Ranma's sister, jerk," Ranko said simply. "Think about it, hot water, girl. I'm not upset about it. STYLED HAIR!"

"Come on, Ranma," Ryouga said. "You've tried this before. You don't have a sister. And I recognize the smell from being P-Chan so I KNOW it's you."

"Hey, Ranko," Ranma's voice called out from outside the actual bathing area. "Are you in there? Brianna said you were."

"You can come in, Ranma," Ranko shouted, smirking triumphantly. Ryouga swallowed as he glanced in the direction of the voice and saw Ranma walk in. 

"Akane told me what she...WHOAH!!!" Ranma flinched back when he saw Ranko in the water with a naked. ~Bandana?~ "Ryouga? What the hell happened to you?"

Glancing back at Ranko and realizing that these were two separate people. A trickle of blood appeared at his nose and then he fainted.

"Ummm, did I interrupt something?" Ranma asked hesitantly.

"With Ryouga?" Ranko asked. "Why would you..." She glanced down "...think...that?" then snapped her face right back up, dropped Ryouga into the water, and zipped behind Ranma.

"Uhh…uhh…uhh…" Ranma stuttered. Ranko looked up for a moment and then jumped away from Ranma. Her brother almost mirroring the action.

"Don't get so close!" they both yelled at once. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds.

"We should get him some clothes," Ranma said, finally. "I could get some of my clothes."

"He's a little...bigger than you," Ranko said, nervously.

"Hey!"

"Well he is," Ranko snapped back. 

"Let's go check anyway," Ranma said. "Akane wants to apologize anyway."

"Why didn't she come then?" Ranko demanded, angry at a reminder of that argument.

"I don't know," Ranma said. "Ask her that!"

"I think I will," Ranko said. They stared at each other for a moment, completely forgetting Ryouga. "You go first."

"Why don't you go?"

"Because you'll be right behind me, idiot!"

"Let's go at the same time then!"

"Fine!" The two werecheetahs began sidestepping along the hallway, keeping a close eye on each other. They were long gone when a gurgling sound and rush of water signaled Ryouga's coming too.

"What, what!?" Ryouga looked around and saw nothing, but did smell Ranma and...Ranko. "I could have DROWNED!! RANMA!!! RANKO!!!" 

He started to charge off after the scents, until of course he remembered his state of dress, or lack there of. 

"Where do I get clothes?" Ryouga whined. Then he saw a huge...person walk in wearing a robe. The person hung the robe up on a peg and headed for the water.

"Excuse me," the ogre said in a grumbling voice before walking into the water, not paying any more attention to Ryouga. 

********

"You have to be kidding," Sheila said. "A couple of werecheetahs afraid of cats."

"She's not kidding," Tirga said. "All I did was touch the girl and she jumped for the ceiling." Sheila and Brianna looked at him for a moment.

"THAT'S not proof of anything," Sheila said. "Where are your parents anyway?"

"Hmm," Brianna said. "I guess they went to their room. Anyway, Ranko and Ranma really are afraid of cats. They won't even relax around each other."

"So just how bad is this so-called fear of cats?" Sheila asked as they turned into the hallway leading to the rooms, and saw Ranma and Ranko inching along the hallway keeping an eye on each other.

"What's going on?" Brianna asked.

"We're getting Ryouga some clothes," Ranma said.

"That's not what I...who's Ryouga?" Brianna asked.

"One of my...one of RANMA's rivals," Ranko said. "He popped up in the baths without his pack or clothes."

"Is it anything like that pack?" Sheila asked, pointing to the item Tirga was carrying. Both of them moved their eyes to the side to see the pack in question.

"Yeah, that's..." and eyes traveled to see Tirga in his hybrid form, after all, he couldn't have carried it otherwise. Both of them winced and then zipped down the hall yelling "CAT!!"

"Okay," Sheila said, blinking. "Maybe you're not kidding."

"Told ya," Brianna said.

"Wait, did they just say that..." Sheila started.

"The springs!" Tirga finished, and both started rushing for the springs, dropping the pack. Brianna blinked as it imbedded itself in the floor.

"How heavy is that thing?" she asked.

********

Ranma and Ranko zipped into Ranma's room and closed the door behind them.

"What the-?" Akane blinked. "What's wrong with you two?"

"There's a cat back there!" they both shouted, then glanced at each other and parted. "Stop that!"

"EVERYBODY STOP IT!!" Akane shouted, feeling herself get frustrated again. Everybody paused and glares were passed around. "Okay, let's actually think about this, before we have another fight, okay?"

"Fine by me," Ranma said.

"Of course you'd agree with her," Ranko snapped.

"Are you kidding!" Akane snapped. "How often does he agree with me!"

"More than you notice!" Ranko snapped back.

"Oh yeah," Akane answered back. "Like when!?"

"Like when-"

"Isn't this what we wanted to not do!" Ranma shouted. Everybody shut up again.

"This is going to take a lot of doing," Akane sighed.

********

"Well, he was here," Sheila said. "I can smell him."

"That doesn't smell like a wolf," Tirga said. "More like a dog." He laughed a little.

"Dog, wolf," Sheila shrugged. "Whatever. He's out somewhere running around naked."

"You sound expectant," Tirga said.

"What's the matter, Tirga," Sheila asked. "Jealous?" Sheila merely smirked, not saying anything.

"Hey, that little creep stole my robe!!" an ogre bather shouted.

"So much for running around naked," Tirga said, smirking at Sheila.

"Damn, it'll make him harder to find," she said, ignoring Tirga's innuendo deliberately.

~But first she acted like she was interested,~ Tirga thought, confused. ~Now she's not? What?~


	3. Neriman Free-for-All and A Hot Time on O...

The Tokyo International Airport was often the sight of some interesting parties moving to and from other countries. Today was no different as a collection of two college-aged young ladies and one man stepped off the plane in a variety of not happy moods. 

"I tell you she's around here somewhere," Romeo said nervously. "I can barely smell her through the picante. She's going to pounce as soon as we step out of the plane and tear our livers out by the skin of her teeth!" The girls looked at him, Moisha still scratching.

"Like...what?" the pink-haired wererat asked. "Listen, I just want to like get a bath to get this gunk off of me!"

"Quit being such a pair of whiny babies!" Lydia snapped angrily. "Honestly, are you warriors or not!?"

"Which of us had to change after that werecheetah grabbed us a couple of days ago?" Romeo asked. He was rewarded with a steady glare from the blonde that almost cleared his bowels.

"Agh!" Moisha whined. "It's getting into the silver burns!! Can't we go get a bath?"

"If you didn't scratch," Lydia muttered angrily as she stalked ahead. "You wouldn't have so much trouble. I'm heading for the rental place, why don't you two get the luggage, if you can manage it." 

She stalked away and then quickly ducked around a corner. After checking around the corner to make sure that Romeo and Moisha were indeed heading for luggage claim, she began scratching frantically.

"Oh yeah," Lydia sighed. "Mmm, that's better, yeah. There to! Ahhhh. Much better."

"Excuse me, Miss?" someone said, instantly attracting Lydia's attention. "What are you doing?" Lydia looked down, took stock of where her hands were, and paled.

"In public of all places," somebody whispered. 

"I hope she's not American, can you imagine how bad that would make us look?"

"It's not like that," Lydia protested. "I'm just..." and then she saw Romeo and Moisha already coming down the hallway. "...needed a little...relief." Her voice trailed off in defeat.

"Hey, Lydia," Romeo said. "There are some security guards coming this way...would you know why?"

"Grrr..." Lydia rolled her eyes upward and would have cried if it didn't go against her warrior image.

********

"Now more than ever must I defeat the evil cur Saotome and free my loves from his darkness," Kuno muttered as he stalked down the runaway from the Kuno private jet. Kodachi sauntered along behind him, considering things.

"Hmmm," she said. "That gaijin woman mentioned 'blood transfusions' certainly my Ranma-sama would not begrudge me a sample of his...essence." She smirked for a brief moment before continuing her thoughts. "Still, I have no idea how to reach this Jade place. Of course, this new werecheetah has not been made 'safe' yet. Still, is that a chance I should take. Hmmm." She frowned, remembering the bit about mind control and wondering whether it would be better to wait for Ranma to make an appearance.

And of course that shapechanger was with him. Hmm, wait for a week, or try to take power immediately. Kodachi considered the question for all of two seconds.

********

"Listen," Brittany said. "I told you. It's not her I'm smelling!" She sighed in exasperation.

"I think you just have rats on the brain," Gina said, shaking her head.

"I keep telling you they're there!" Brit insisted.

"Any clue what they're talking about," Ukyou asked. "I'm not doing so well in English."

"They're talking about smelling rats still," Nabiki said irritably. She couldn't tell how Brittany could make sense of all the mixed smells in the airport. Just thinking about it gave her a headache. She turned to the arguing sisters and cleared her throat. "Any chance of teaching us how to change before we get back to my home?" Brit looked at her and blinked.

"Sorry, girl," Brit said. "You'll have to wait another day or so. You need to build up some lunar energies first."

"Lunar energies," Nabiki said. "Right."

"Oh damn!" Ukyou said suddenly smacking a furred fist into an open hand.

"What is it?" Nabiki asked, she was busy noting how people seemed to be avoiding her.

"I forgot about Konatsu," she said. "He's still stuck back there."

********

"Hello?" Konatsu called out as he wandered the nearly endless halls of Gina's lab. "Is anybody home?"

"Excuse me," a voice said. Konatsu turned about to see that foreign werecheetah's husband. "Aren't you one of the Japanese visitors?"

"Oh hello, sir," he said, bowing demurely. "I seem to have gotten myself lost. Could you please direct me to the rest of my party?"

"They, uh, went back to Japan," Stripe said hesitantly.

"Oh dear," Konatsu sighed. "Hmmm, I suppose I should call her as soon as possible. She may have a task for me to accomplish here. In the meantime is there anything I can do for you sir?" Konatsu blink-blinked.

"Um, no," Stripe said. "Ukyou-sama, you say? Ukyou is that girl that sort of dresses like a guy?"

"Mmhmm," Konatsu nodded. Stripe looked Konatsu over for a moment and cocked an eyebrow.

"You know, she doesn't seem to bend that way," Stripe said to the "girl" in front of him.

"Bend what way sir?" Konatsu asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Never mind," he said.

********

"So this is the place, huh?" Gina said as they approached the dojo. "Looks calm enough." She tried to ignore Nabiki's quiet snicker.

"I suppose with Ranma out of town that the center of chaos has moved off a bit," Nabiki said, smirking.

"Okay," Gina said, setting down her luggage. "You guys go get settled in and I'll go see this Minister of Health idiot." By the time any of the three had turned around, Gina was in the rental car and down the street. Well, half-way down the street. Damn Ace for having a date with Penny anyway. She could have brought the Gina-Mobile over, but noooo.

"Did she just leave the three of us alone to explain to my sister what's going on," Nabiki wondered.

"Nope," Ukyou said. "Just the two of you." She tried to leave for her own place, but found herself stalled at the end of the other werecheetah's arm.

"No you don't," Brittany said. "You stay where I can see you until you've gotten some training." She glanced toward Nabiki and saw the wererat putting on what seemed to be rain slickers. "That isn't going to hide you very well, you know." Nabiki gave her a sidelong look.

"You have never met my father," she said simply.

********

"WAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Soun Tendo's cry could be heard up and down the street. "My babies are Nezumi!!" Nabiki's mouth twitched irritably as she sipped at the tea Kasumi had made for them.

"Oh my," Kasumi said, of course. "If Nodoka knows about Akane, what will this mean for the marriage. Is she fine with a cat marrying a rat?"

~'If Nodoka knows?'~ Nabiki thought to herself. ~Not 'if Akane is?'~

"WAAAAHHHHHH!!!" A new cry was established. "The schools will never be joined!!! Ranma you better not eat my baby!!!"

"I don't think you have to worry about that, Daddy," Nabiki said. "They're both a little too clueless for that yet."

"WAAAAAHHHH!!! My baby's virtue is going to be lost!!!"

"I know the human body is mostly water," Brittany said. "But shouldn't he be getting dehydrated soon?"

"By the way," Ukyou said. "Where's the panda man?"

"Oh," Kasumi said. "Uncle Saotome is still trying to get to America. He sent us a postcard from Tibet just this day. Funny it has a Tokyo postmark though."

"WAAAHHHH!!! How dare you abandon me in my time of need Saotome!!"

"You don't seem very upset by all this Kasumi," Nabiki noted nervously. Kasumi's opinion was the one that mattered here.

"Remember two weeks ago when the toaster oven tried to eat the family?" Kasumi asked.

"Yes," Nabiki said. "What was Akane thinking of trying to cook out of one of Happosai's books? It seems like she tries anything that looks like a recipe since she figured out curry. I guess sometimes a little success is a bad thing. What happened to it anyway?" Brittany listened on skeptically while Ukyou had this horrified expression on her face.

"I'm not sure," Kasumi said. "I thought we put it outside with the trash."

"So what you're saying is that compared to some of what happens here," Nabiki said. "Us being wererats is normal."

"Exactly," Kasumi said cheerfully. "Oh also, remember when I left to help our cousins around the house? " In the background was the sound of someone beating a toaster oven to death.

"We were avoiding eating at home for a week," Nabiki said. "Of course I remember."

"Oh, I thought Ranma would be able to handle the cooking," Kasumi said. "He said he would."

"Akane wouldn't let him," Nabiki said dryly. "It was just after the oni incident, right?"

"Oh yes," Kasumi said. "Ah, that explains it."

"Explains what?" Nabiki asked. "What about that week?"

"Well, you see..." Kasumi started.

"WAAAAHHH!!!" Nabiki sighed as their father ran back through the room complaining about something new entirely.

"I thought she said the chaos was mostly gone," Brittany said nervously. "Is it always like this?"

"Pretty much," Ukyou said.

********

"This is the 'welcoming party' you have set up to meet this kid?!!?" Gina declared as she looked over the unfriendly collection of black-suited men in mirrorshades. She just bet they had silver bullets too. "Of course she hasn't shown herself! She's probably scarred out of her mind!"

"We must protect the well being of the people," the Minister protested.

"Wouldn't that include the well being of this missing girl that you've set out to turn into a fur rug?!!" Gina demanded.

"You know, that's not a bad idea," he said. "Of course, werecreatures are a cowardly, superstitious lot..."

"That's criminals, Mr. Wayne," Gina interrupted, voice dripping sarcasm.

"I'm sorry," the man said. "What?"

"Nevermind," Gina said. "Look, you trigger-happy dunce. Werecreatures are just like any other person, got it? My sister is a werecheetah, she's never hurt anyone." She considered that for a moment. "Well, she's never hurt anyone that didn't deserve it...not on purpose anyway."

"So you're not going to hunt them down and make sure they cease preying on innocent people?" the man sounded dismayed.

"What?!" Gina gasped. "No! I'm going to find her, and then put her and anybody else that changed into an extradimensional containment field until my Dad gets back from Jade so he can cure them."

"There's a cure?"

"Didn't I say that on the phone?" Gina asked wearily. She wondered if her parents were having this much trouble with the Saotomes.

********

"I think I may have found something we can agree on," Akane said suddenly. Breaking the silence that had been three people carefully not fighting for the last fifteen minutes.

"Oh?" Ranko said suspiciously.

"What's that?" Ranma asked.

"This is all Gina's fault," Akane said. The three glanced around the room for a moment, Ranma and Ranko confused at the sound of someone blaming somebody other than them, Happosai, or Genma.

"Well," Ranko said, hesitantly. "Yeah. Hmm..." Her eyes narrowed.

"You know she looks like she could use some self-defense training," Ranma noted.

"I wonder if her mother will let you give her a little bit of a crash course?" Akane said to Ranko. The female Saotome blinked and suddenly produced a wide grin that somehow managed to be cat-like even in human form.

********

"Brrrr," Gina said as she shivered.

"Is something wrong Diggers-san?" the Minister asked.

"I feel like someone just walked over my grave," Gina said shakily. She shook off the feeling and went back to talking to Minister Edeota. 

"Your...grave?" the minister said nervously, wondering where he could find two candle sticks to make into a cross.

"It's a figure of speech," Gina said, not bothering to pay attention to the sudden appearance of garlic. "So can I talk to the girl's family and friends? Maybe they'll know where to find her. And for goodness sakes, get rid of the heavy artillery. You're making my baby sister look stable!"

Meanwhile, the men in mirror shades were chatting amongst themselves.

"Are we done yet?" one of them asked. "My shift starts in like an hour."

"Hey," another said. "I'm not complaining. We may look stupid, but at least cousin Baka is paying us well for looking stupid."

"You know," said a third. "This is a very realistic looking water gun."

********

Yuka glanced about cautiously. She really didn't want to come out, but she was getting hungry. Fortunately it was fairly late at night so there probably wouldn't be very many people around. As for those that were around, if she stuck to the shadows maybe they wouldn't notice her.

That left the problem of where to get the food. She'd been lucky to snatch the clothes she was wearing now. There were people at her house that she wasn't certain she wanted to see. She guessed that they'd be around Sayuri's place and maybe even the Tendo dojo too. She would have imposed on Ranma and his mother, if they were home.

And she'd needed to snatch some clothes too. It was amazing how hard it was to find a kimono, or anything for that matter, for someone almost seven feet tall. Then again, her cup size could have competed with Shampoo now. And that was damn cool.

She wanted to give Ranma a good talking to anyway. Or maybe a throttling. Then again she might be able to get Akane to lend her a mallet. She was beginning to learn why so many people felt obliged to blame everything on Ranma. It was very cathartic.

Yuka sighed quietly and disappeared back into her hiding place.

~It would probably be a good idea to figure out where to try first rather than just wandering about aimlessly,~ she decided. She took a deep breath and clutched at her dad's amulet. ~Well, I could always stand a diet for a couple of days.~

Then she heard the little mewing sound behind her. She turned around cautiously and relaxed upon seeing a white cat staring at her curiously. More important was the fish at its feet. Yuka stared for a few moments before quickly snatching the fish away, not even wondering why she hadn't smelled it approaching. It had been almost two full days since she'd last eaten, and raw fish was far from anathema to her to begin with.

The cat merely blinked and cocked its head the other way as Yuka ate, and then faded back into the woods away from her.

********

"BACK!! BACK!! BACK!!" The door opened and slammed shut, revealing a breathless Gina leaning against the wall.

"Hey, Sis," Brit said, noticing. "This isn't our house, you could have knocked."

"I was planning too," Gina said. "Until some animal in the trash heap attacked me."

"Did it look like a toaster oven?" a tall Japanese girl asked, appearing out of nowhere.

"Well," Gina said hesitantly. "Sort of."

"Oh dear," Kasumi said, sighing before turning to the phone. "I suppose we shall have to call the exterminator after all. Now what was Skuld-chan's number?"

"Eh?" Gina said, blinking. She looked to her sister, noticed the "don't ask" signal and just resumed catching her breath. "Anyway, it's not as bad as I was afraid of."

"Huh, oh the 'outbreak,'" Brittany said, shrugging. "So what's the total population of werecheetahs now?"

"About six," Gina said. "Plus one girl that's gone missing who was probably the original one Ranma scratched. Anyway, I got some ideas of where to look, but maybe we should get your two new students to help since they know the area better."

"Why both of them?" Brittany asked. "It only takes one to show us around."

"Yeah," Gina agreed. "But we'll cover more ground if we split up. I'll go with that Ukyou girl and you go with Nabiki. Just try to avoid scaring her to death."

"Well it isn't my fault she smells yummy," Brittany protested. "Charlie smells yummy too, and I don't go around eating her."

"Right," Gina said. "Well, let's go. Maybe we can get this done with tonight."

********

"How dare those peasants keep me from what is my power by noble rights?!" Kodachi demanded angrily pacing her room in the Kuno command. Then suddenly she stopped. "Wait, there is yet one werecheetah remaining uncaptured. Now if I were a silly little peasant girl trying to hide in Nerima, where would I go?"

********

"Nerima is a small town according to this," Lydia snapped. "It shouldn't be that hard to find where they're keeping the cats. We do this systematically and cover all the ground until we smell something. And it'll take us right to them."

"And then what?" Romeo asked.

"What do you think?" Lydia answered irritably.

"Haven't you, like, seen those cartoons with the cat trying to get in a dog pound?" Moisha asked nervously.

"Yess," Lydia said. "Great, ain't they?"

********

"This girl will stick as close to the city as she can and still remain hidden," Daishi determined. "We should begin with her home and circle outward."

"It shouldn't take me long to find her," Ionis boasted calmly. "Then all that needs to be done is capture her. After all, it's just one untrained, frightened little girl. What could go wrong?"

********

"No doubt the remaining werecheetah is none other but the virtuous pi...spotty...blonde...errr…." Kuno gave up crafting a new nickname for the moment. "No doubt it is the vile Saotome's virtuous and energetic sister who is enslaved most foully by her own lascivious sibling! I must seek her out and rescue her before the foul Ranma can abuse her loveliness further!! Now where would the fair maiden go in this time of fear? Oh yes! Of course!"

********

"I suddenly have an urge to find Kuno and tear his throat out," Ranko muttered.

"I get that all the time," Akane said. Off to the side Ranma nodded sagely.

********

"Hey," Gina said. "Where're you going? I thought you said it was this way?"

"Oh," Ukyou looked embarrassed. "Sorry. I suddenly had an urge to find Kuno and tear his throat out. Funny, it just came out of nowhere. Anyway, I told you we should have checked here first."

********

"I smell them over this way," Romeo said somewhat hesitantly.

"Cha," Moisha said, frustrated. "They're like over here."

"You're both right," Lydia said. "And they're coming this way."

********

"So why are we in this place?" Brittany asked, she glanced about cautiously. There was that familiar smell again. Actually, several familiar smells, but everything in this vacant lot was so jumbled up that she couldn't make heads or tails of them yet.

"One thing you gotta learn about Nerima," Nabiki said. "Whenever someone runs away from home, they always end up in the same place."

Suddenly the lot was flooded with light revealing something...not good.

"This is the Ministry of Health," the voice came from the light above. "All werecreatures stand down and prepare to be quarantined." Across the vacant lot Gina was smacking her hand into her head.

In the middle of the whole mess sat a rather shocked looking Yuka.

"Where is she?! Where is my true love that I might save her from this horrible curse!"

"You there! Peasant-girl! Bite me this instant."

"I thought you said you were keeping an eye out!"

"For werecheetahs, not all this, Zelda!!"

"ACK!!! Shouldn't we have like...have scattered before now?"

"Oh my..." Nabiki whimpered, for once at a loss for words. There was little more movement for perhaps ten seconds before somebody attacked somebody.

Then the explosions began as Daishi took down the chopper with a chi blast.

"AHHHHH!!!" Yuka screamed as the battle was engaged.

********

"Back off, baldy!" Ukyou snapped as she swiped her spatula at the woman in the green jumpsuit. 

Ukyou had to switch off that target quickly as Kodachi leaped into the fray. She didn't waste any consideration on this opponent, slicing out with the sharp edge of her spatula. The gymnast was forced to flip over the strike, interrupting her move toward the terrified Yuka.

"Stay out of my way, waitress!" Kodachi snapped as Zelda shouted something in English and attacked again. A couple feet away, Brittany had intercepted Daishi's move toward the young werecheetah and was battling the ninja.

"I'm not supposed to be out here," Nabiki muttered irritably hiding behind an old refrigerator.

"HA! Gotcha!" Gina shouted triumphantly as Ionis struggled with the glob of goo that had spilled out of the ball Gina had tossed at him. Then she had to move quickly as the roving sword battle that was Kuno and the rats started to move back toward the rest of the near free-for-all.

Lydia pulled off from Kuno and sliced at Yuka, who was now running out of the center of the fight. The wererat's strike was blocked by a dagger tossed by Daishi, who had to duck a flying gymnast's club. Then Kodachi was sent flying by the bald woman's kick as Brittany broke off from the ninja and grabbed Yuka, dodging the wererats' as she leaped for a more defensible position.

"NOT OVER HERE!!" Nabiki shouted as the center of the fight shifted towards her.

"It's, like, another wererat!" Moisha shouted to her fellows, speaking English.

"Damn," Lydia snapped. "Get to her before they do!"

"A little late for that," Romeo snapped, parrying Kuno's thrusts frantically.

"Have at thee, foul servant of the darkest forces!!" Kuno shouted. 

"Ukyou nearly lost her head to Daishi's sword, and she backed off to join Brittany in front of the two girls. The rats reached the position about the same time she did and suddenly realized one major fact. There were three werecheetahs there. Then the Kunos and Peewee's playmates joined the mix, and they had other targets to choose from.

A flour bomb was tossed into the air, mixing with a burst of paralysis gas diluting the effectiveness the gas greatly. In fact the only person that really got hit with it was Zelda, who suddenly seemed to be fighting like a twitchy stick figure. Or maybe she had just seen Zoolander one too many times and was trying to break dance.

Somebody clapped a hand on Nabiki's shoulder and the girl remembered some old training in a fit of panic. So Gina found her hand grabbed and her arm being twisted painfully.

"Ack! It's me! It's me!" Gina snapped. Nabiki released the girl's arm with a look of relief.

"Thanks for the warning," Nabiki said dryly.

"Yeah, yeah," Gina muttered. "Get the other girl and let's get out of here while they fight it out." Nabiki nodded and turned to Yuka scaring the poor girl out of her wits, until she figured out who it was.

"What happened to you?" Yuka gasped after Nabiki identified herself.

"Ranma," Nabiki said simply. Yuka was about to ask more when Lydia jumped downward, leaping past the two busy fighters. 

"Leave her alone you carnivorous monster!!" she shouted angrily, sword leading on the way toward a petrified Yuka. Nabiki and Gina pulled Yuka out of the way. 

And then.

Then a chill and hideous cry rang through the battlefield. A cry which momentarily galvanized all the Nerimans.

"SWEETO!!!" 

"Get off of me!" Zelda shouted. The next cry came from a certain buxom wererat as the lower half off her jump suit was torn away.

"Hmm, didn't mean to do that," the little troll said, snickering. "Pink's your natural hair color then?" Moisha almost lunged at him, but then she'd have to move her arms.

"It is the legendary demon," Daishi said, momentarily impressed.

"Oh don't you dare come near me!" Ukyou shouted, tossing spatulas and flour bombs at the new threat. She found herself momentarily on the same side as Kodachi as the gymnast unleashed her own chemical arsenal on the pervert.

"You commoner fool!" Kodachi snapped. "Your flour bombs are rendering my gasses ineffective!"

"Who threw these things at me!!" Happosai demanded angrily. "Ranma!! I know you're here somewhere!! Only you would ruin my fun this way."

"What could possibly be so bad about a little perverted old man?" Brittany asked. Then the ground was suddenly littered with little round objects. With fuses. 

Brittany momentarily wondered just when Brianna had gotten back from Jade, but that question was plowed over by the realization of just what was about to happen.

"TAKE COVER!!" Nabiki shouted just before the battle was whited out by the Happo-Fire-Bursts. As the smoke cleared Happosai looked around the battlefield for the expected Ranma.

"Oh no!" Happosai shouted suddenly. "What have I done? I've harmed all of these sweet, innocent young ladies." He grieved piteously for all of twenty seconds. "Hmmm, I thought there were more people here, oh well."

********

"Oh man," Romeo said when he finally got back to the hotel room. "I thought we were done for that time. Did you see if Moisha got out?" He took a deep breath and turned to look at the girl he had grabbed from the conflagration and run with. "Hey, are you okay?" 

As he turned around completely he noticed for the first time that he had not been dragging Lydia along. Nope, instead he had that other wererat they had seen in the battle. 

"I guess this means no party tonight," Romeo said nervously as he looked at the unconscious Nabiki. 

********

"Ya know," Ranko said. "Much as I'd like ta sit here and keep sayin' and doin' nothin', I'm tired." She stretched out and stood up, heading for the door.

"Good night I guess," Akane said. Ranko stopped and glanced back over her shoulder.

"You're not coming?" she asked.

"I was...uh, going to ask Ranma how to change again," Akane said, having the decency to look bashful. Ranma nervously scratched the back of his head and looked away as Ranko glanced at him.

"Fine," she snapped, stalking out of the room.

"Great, she's mad again," Akane said. She turned to Ranma. "You don't mind if I stay here, do you?"

"Uh, no," Ranma said. "I mean after last night why not?"

"Yeah, last night was nice," Akane said. "Even if I was acting a little...umm...Amazon-like."

"That was kinda frightening," Ranma said. They stayed silent for a couple of seconds. "I kinda thought there'd be something more to sex though."

"Uh, Ranma," Akane said, recovering from the face plant. "That wasn't sex."

"What?" Ranma asked. "Okay, so what did we do then?"

"We just slept together," Akane explained, wanting to hit herself for the poor explanation.

"Isn't that the same thing?" Ranma asked. Akane looked Ranma over in near disbelief and then hid her face in her hand. "Akane, are you okay?"

********

"You're Ranko right?" somebody asked. Ranko grumbled and turned to look towards the voice, and found herself facing a huge looking human.

"Uhhh..." Ranko said, blinking. The lady had to be at least a foot taller than her, in c..c..ca..cheetah form. "Yeah."

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked. "Its about that friend of yours."

"Ryouga?" she asked, neck still craned. "What about 'em?"

"Why don't we talk about this over some food?" the woman suggested.

"Really?" Ranko asked. She started to debate herself between sleep and eating.

"I'll pay," the woman said.

"All right," Ranko said, smirking in a manner that seemed to make the tall woman nervous. "Lead the way!"

********

Sheila stared in outright shock at the pile of dishes that Ranko had already devoured, and then at her rapidly shrinking purse. This was going to be a very expensive questioning.

"So, what kind of mage is your friend anyway?" Sheila asked.

"Mage?" Ranko repeated between bites. "You mean like Diggers-san?" Sheila nodded. "Ryouga ain't any more of a mage than Ranma or me."

"Okay, if he's not a mage then what was that attack spell he cast to get away from us, then?" Sheila asked.

"Oh, you mean the Shi Shi Hokodan," Ranko said, working on another leg of lamb.

"Excuse me, what?" Sheila asked. Ranko shrugged.

"The Shi Shi Hokodan," Ranko repeated. "Ryouga's chi blast. He channels his depression into a huge blast of energy."

"When he gets depressed he goes boom?" Sheila asked, feeling somewhat nervous suddenly. "And it's not magic?"

"Not that I know of," Ranko said. "Doesn't matter though, my...Ranma's Moko Takabisha is better than his attack. He has to be really depressed and do a Perfect Shi Shi Hokodan ta beat that."

"Perfect-?" Sheila paused and took a breath. "Huge ball of energy goes up and them comes down?"

"Oh, you've seen it!" Ranko said. "Yeah, nasty attack. Hard to beat except just getting' outta the way. Ryouga's always moody about somethin' and he's always blamin' m...Ranma for something too. Kinda cute though." Ranko stopped and blushed furiously. ~I did not just say that.~

"The last time I saw Ryouga," Nodoka's voice said behind them. "He was chasing Ranma down the street with a silver weapon. That is not what I would call cute." Ranko winced and turned around to see her mother looking somewhat cross, something that almost sent her running in panic.

"Hi mom," she said weakly.

"Young lady," Nodoka said firmly. "You had better not associate with this werewolf, for your own sake."

"Ryouga's harmless," Ranko protested. "He's an idiot, but he's a harmless idiot..."

"He's a werewolf," Nodoka insisted. "And would call him harmless about as much as I would call him cute." Sheila frowned but didn't say anything.

"Whatever," Ranko said. "He'll be after Ranma anyway, just like everybody else." Nodoka's face softened a moment.

"Just by careful, dear," Nodoka said. "Most of the werewolves I've known are murdering beasts."

"Probably won't see him," Ranko said. "Ain't like he'll be able to find us again."

"Why not?" Sheila asked curiously.

"Ryouga's got a sense of direction like a compass inna steel cup," Ranko said. She stood up and stretched. "I guess I'll go ta bed now."

"We're going to be waiting for the rest of the Edge Guard here," Sheila said. "Maybe you and Bri would like to go shopping around town?"

"Well," Ranko glanced to her mother who nodded encouragingly. "I guess so. Wait a minute, you're one of those Edge Guard werec..c...cats?"

"Errr..." Sheila shuffled nervously. "Yeah." 

Ranko looked at the huge woman and unwillingly imagined her cat form. She took a step away from the woman, swallowing, preparing to run. And then Sheila shrank down into her hybrid form and stretched out. 

"I just didn't want to scare you," she explained. It was one of the few times that Ranko's confusion completely and totally overwhelmed her.

"But, you were so...big! And now you're..." Ranko spat out. "How?"

"Oh, that," Sheila said, waving her hand. "Small birth defect."

"I think I may have heard of such a case before," Nodoka said, equally shocked. "A long time ago."

"Yeah," Sheila said. "Well the bad part is being offered a lollipop by idiots that don't see the Edge Guard gear." Ranko felt oddly comforted by Sheila's oddity, though for once she managed to avoid voicing the "I'm not the only freak" feeling.

********

"I know that inn was around here somewhere," Ryouga muttered.

He pushed through the undergrowth heading in what he was certain was the correct direction. And now thanks to Ranma he was a common thief. Then again how could they expect him to run around naked.

And of course, the both of them had left him to drown. Ranma and Ranko. When did Ranma get a sister? He didn't know, he didn't care. Now, of course Ranko had some cause to leave him in the water like that. He HAD peeped on her, even if it was unintentional. Besides she was a girl, and well, he was pretty certain it wouldn't be a good thing to go beating on a girl.

But Ranma he could still destroy. Obviously Ranma had done something to curse him with being a shapechanging beast. And maybe his sister too, the evil twisted fiend. Ryouga stopped walking and considered this for a moment.

"Okay," he said. "I'm starting to sound too much like Kuno. Which means there has to be something wrong with what I'm thinking. But all I'm thinking is that this is all Ranma's fault, so that has to be right...so what am I doing wrong?"

Ryouga sighed deeply.

"My head hurts."

********

Somebody nudged at Moisha as she lay on the ground in the smoking ruin of the vacant lot, which was a state of being that it often held. She shifted about slightly, and smirked.

"Oh come on," Moisha muttered in half-conscious amusement. "You two can, like do better than this."

"Eh?" Brittany said, standing over the wererat with a confused expression. She was already in a bad mood upon waking up to find a certain item of clothing missing.

"Romeo," Moisha said, and the confusion cleared. "Lydia. You're not tired yet are you?"

"GAHH!" Gina shouted, covering her ears. "Too much information!"

"Hey!" Brittany shouted. "Ditz! Wake-up!!"

"HA!!! Fireball for twenty damage!!" Moisha shouted sitting up sharply. "I, like, finally beat the...both of..." she looked around her at the people surrounding her. "Like, uh-oh."

"So is she going to tell us where they took Nabiki and Yuka?" Ukyou asked in Japanese. "Or are we going to have convince her?"

"Yes!" Kuno shouted. "What has been done with the beautiful...girl?"

"Ranko isn't here Kuno," Ukyou said irritably.

"Of course she is not here!" Kuno declared. "For she has obviously been taken by this..." Kuno trailed off as he looked over Moisha.

"Uhhh..." Moisha said, then continued uncertainly in Japanese herself. "I don't, know what you're talking about?"

"The two girls you little rat!" Brittany snapped lifting Moisha up by the remains of her suit. "Where'd your two little friends take them!?"

"Brother-dear," Kodachi said as she shook out her head clear after finally waking up. "What are you looking at?" Kuno didn't seemed to respond, and seemed to be fixated on some low point. Everybody else turned to look at the only male among them, virtually drooling over Moisha's altered outfit.

"Pervert!" Ukyou shouted before smashing him into the dirt.

"Hey, he was like cute and stuff," Moisha protested.

"Oh, don't worry about him," Gina said. "Because we still have some questions to ask." Moisha swallowed nervously.

********

~This is not funny,~ Nabiki thought, rubbing her head. She looked around the cheap hotel room and frowned noticing her captor talking on the phone to someone. The other rat was in human form now, a trick that still escaped Nabiki's knowledge. Now was not the time to ask though. Get away first then worry about other things.

As she edged toward the door, behind the other rat's back she listened intently for a sign that he might turn around to look at her. Apparently his two girlfriends had been captured in the fracas, but he'd been able to recover a hostage from the cats. At least that's what she got from her command of English. 

Of course she couldn't be certain, the man's voice was rather slurred. Something to do with the thick smell of alcohol permeating the room, she decided. Either that or the fact that he sounded like he was expecting to die at any moment. At least it made it easy to get to the door with out him noticing.

She winced as the door clicked closed behind her and then ran full tilt down the hall. She almost went down the stairs, but caught sight of a collection of suspicious looking men in black suits coming up. Frowning, Nabiki backtracked and spied a maintenance closet at the head of the stairs.

She slipped in, closing the door again moments before the men turned onto the last flight of stairs. She waited nervously before leaving the room and padding silently down the stairs. 

Nabiki had always been surprisingly good at stealth, her and Kasumi both, constantly surprising the martial artists that otherwise seemed to know where everybody was at any given time. She just hoped that carried her through right now, whatever the good intentions of her "rescuer" it didn't seem like the people on the other side of that phone call were very nice at all.

She almost walked out into the lobby, but found a side exit that didn't require going past so many people. Once outside she was home free. She could get to a phone, call Kasumi and then a cab. Everything would be fine.

********

"Tendo dojo," Kasumi said as she answered the phone. "May I help you? Nabiki? Is something wrong? Wait, wait, what is happening?" She looked up briefly to see Ukyou walk into the dojo looking nervous, her tail twitching behind her.

"Kasumi, we have some bad news," Ukyou said. "We lost Nabiki and Yuka."

"Nabiki's on the phone right now," Kasumi said, and quickly turned back to the phone. "Is Yuka with you? How many people? No, no, keep moving I suppose. Get a few...hello? Nabiki? Hello?" She looked up to see the rest of the search party coming in through the door. "We were cut off." 

Ukyou noticed the worried expression on Kasumi's face and that alone made her depressed. Why couldn't this stuff have happened while Ranma was still in town?

********

"Now, now," the old man behind her said in perfect Japanese. "We can't let you risk getting caught by them again." Nabiki was turned around to face him by the big man holding her.

"You know, my sister's the one that does the damsel in distress thing," Nabiki snapped.

"But you've already been rescued," the old man said. "Or did you want that pack of cats to tear you to pieces and eat you up?"

"They're cheetahs," Nabiki said. "It's called a pride. Wolves have packs." Well, she wasn't entirely certain of that, but correcting the old man felt good anyway.

"Well," the old man said. "You have spirit, that's good. You could be useful to us, with the proper training." He smiled viciously.

~Training,~ Nabiki thought bitterly. ~Right.~

********

"Where is she?" Ukyou asked. "What did she say?"

"She was at a hotel," Kasumi said. "Something about being rescued by some other wererat."

"We got one of them," Ukyou said. "They took Yuka with them too. Happosai showed up and everything went to hell. Or deeper to hell."

"Don't worry, Kasumi," Gina said soothingly. "That girl will tell us where they're hiding and we'll get them back."

"Yuka wasn't there," Kasumi said. "Just her and some young man that had apparently lost two of his own friends."

"Two," Gina repeated. "Well, we'll find out what they did with her after we rescue your sister. Everything is going to be fine." ~If the rats don't have the other cheetah, then...oh damn.~ She took one of her communicators out of her pocket and activated it.

"Gina," Penny said as the link connected. "This had better be good."

"We have a problem over here," Gina said. "We need two rescue parties and only have enough people for one."

"Rescue for who?" Penny asked.

********

Lydia was woken up by a violent shaking and someone shouting in rapid-fire panicky Japanese. This didn't help the left over headache she had from whatever had hit her in the back of the head in all the confusion. 

~Why couldn't they wait until I healed completely,~ she wondered, not certain who was shouting. ~A concussion wouldn't have taken THAT long.~

When her eyes opened and began to focus she found herself facing one of the werecheetahs.

"EEEEEEE!!!" Lydia shrieked. "DON'T EAT ME!!!"

The werecheetah released her as soon as she shouted and started grinding her hands together worriedly instead. She sniffled for a couple seconds and then started wailing loudly and crying. 

Lydia snapped to standing and plastered herself against a wall. Looking around it was easy to realize that she and the werecheetah were in some kind of cell. Whoever had captured her had locked her in a room with a werecheetah.

Wonderful.

It was several minutes before the werecheetah quieted to sniffling. Which caused Lydia to calm down.

"What...say...you?" the werecheetah asked finally.

"Uhhh..." Lydia looked back at her blankly for a moment, sweating. The girl was paying attention to her.

NOT GOOD!

"Don't eat me?" Lydia tried. The girl looked puzzled for a moment then disgusted.

"EWWWWWWW!!" The sound was followed by more rapid fire Japanese which Lydia guessed was sort of panicked ranting. 

The girl turned silent for about a minute. Allowing Lydia to calm down in time for the girl to lunge at her and grab the collar of her combat suit.

"NOT FIGHT!! JUST GIRL!!! HELP!!! WHAT DO I DO!?? WHAT MEANS...vi...vi...viviseshen??!!"

"Vivisection?" Lydia repeated, mostly to stave off the oncoming heart attack. Until she realized what that meant. "Ahhhh...shit."

********

"She's woken up, Lord Talon," Daishi said.

"Hmmm," Pee Wee said, a gleeful expression on his face. "Now what to test first? Maybe the classic?"

********

Back in the cell, Lydia was surprised to see one of the walls open up to a corridor, but didn't question it. Following her instincts she rushed out of the room, or, more precisely, away from the werecheetah.

~Never gonna make it, never gonna make it~ she thought, and the sound of rushing air behind her seemed to agree with that. Then something smashed her to the side and there was a loud metallic clang followed by a high pitched, pained shriek that was definitely not coming from her.

Glancing back, Lydia saw the werecheetah flat against the wall of the corridor, wailing and frantically pulling at her leg. The leg was caught between the wall and a large spiked, metal plate that had apparently swung through the wall in an attempt to catch Lydia. The cheetah had been fast enough to get Lydia out of the way, but had been caught herself.

~They're not silver spikes,~ Lydia grumbled as she considered heading on down through the corridor and leaving the girl behind. ~I would have lived, so will she.~ 

The girl looked at her and whimpered something in Japanese as she shifted about. The trap responding by trying to crush her leg further and she screamed again. Lydia cursed and shook her head.

"Help?" the girl whimpered uncertainly.

"Grr," was Lydia's only reaction for a moment. "No way I'm giving this prick the satisfaction of having a guinea pig to play with. Even if it is a cat." 

Having rationalized her decision, she walked forward and examined the trap for a moment. She tried to pull the plate off the girl, trying to ignore the look of gratitude and hope she was getting from the girl as she did so. That wasn't going to work though, she could, of course cut girl's leg off. But the only way she could do that was with her own claws, and then the girl wouldn't grow a new one. She ignored the question of why that would bother her.

Lydia walked around the plate and looked for its hinges grumbling and cursing under her breath. Their captor had set up a little maze for them, probably amused to do that to a rat. The hinges proved easy to find, but that still didn't help her problem much.

"I need something to pry these fucking screws out," she grumbled irritably. She paced for a moment before walking back to where the girl was trapped. She took a look at one of the spikes and smirked victoriously. She pointed to the spike, glancing at the girl.

"Nani?" the girl asked still crying piteously and trying not to move her leg.

"Pull it out," Lydia said. The girl still didn't seem to get the message. Lydia gave an exasperated sigh and yanked on the spike before pointing at it again. "Pull it out! Do you want to stay here?"

The girl shook her head and tried to pull herself to standing on her other leg, screaming as the plate tried to crush her again. Lydia slapped the girl, causing her to quiet down immediately, and pointed at the spike again, mumbling a variety of curses under her breath. 

The girl stared at her in shock for a moment before grabbing the spike and pulling on it. Lydia braced her as the spike ripped off, easily falling to the werecheetah's strength. The wererat shook her head irritably as she collected the spike from the girl's hands, apparently the werecheetah was surprised that it had been as easy as it had been.

Once she had another tool to supplement her claws, prying the screws out of the trap hinges was easy. Lydia had them out after about five minutes of work, trying to ignore the pained crying from the girl. Then it was a simple task to push the plate over and free the girl's leg.

The werecheetah fell over and dragged herself away from the plate and rubbed at her ruined leg. Lydia hesitantly looked over the injuries, making sure they were closing as they should, and shrugged.

"You'll heal," she said, coolly. She stood up and glanced around the first corner of this little maze she was looking forward too. In doing so she noticed a small hole in the wall that the spike trap had made. She smirked and glanced around some more, looking for the inevitable camera.

********

"Well, she almost fell for the first trap," Pee Wee said. "And now I have some werecheetah DNA to experiment with." He chuckled evilly just before the image on the screen tossed something at the camera, and suddenly there was static.

"She found the camera, Lord Talon," Zelda said.

"So what, she can only go one direction," the boy scientist said. "What's she going to do, go back in the cell?" He waved at the screen showing the empty cell in time to highlight the image of Lydia walking into it.

Through the original door. 

From the outside hallway.

"How'd she get there!!" Lord Talon demanded as the screen Lydia walked off the screen and then back on, Yuka's arm draped on her shoulder so that the rat could support her walking until the leg healed enough that the girl could walk on her own.

********

Kasumi turned into the tea room to see a pink haired wererat being interrogated by Brittany.

"So where are they?" Brittany demanded.

"I...I don't know?" Moisha protested weakly. "I don't know the hotel or anything, its not like I, you know, pay attention. Lydia does all the, like preparing, you know?"

"Oh you know something," Brittany growled. She leaned in close, growling. Moisha whimpered pitifully waiting for the cheetah to kill her. Brittany was about to demand answers again when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she was surprised to see Kasumi standing there, seemingly calm but with a worried look in her eyes.

"Please, Brittany-san," she said. "Let me speak to her." Brittany hesitated. "She is my sister."

"All right," Brittany said. "But I'm staying in case she tries something." This time it was Kasumi's turn to hesitate.

"I suppose it is past the need to keep a secret, if Nodoka knows about Akane, then she knows about all of us," she sighed. She waited for Brittany to move and then sat down across from the wererat. "Do you speak Japanese?"

"Some," Moisha said hesitantly. "Not the best, you know?"

"I suppose you speak it well enough," Kasumi said. She pointed to her neck stiffly, trying to stay calm and not just breakdown. "You're outfit has a high neckline."

"Well, it's a fashion statement," Moisha said weakly. Kasumi's normally sunny smile was barely present in response to the joke.

"Two people I know always wear high necklines, or scarfs," Kasumi said. 

"Okay...so?" Moisha asked.

"You see, their work was dangerous in ways and they used to be burned a lot," Kasumi explained. "Eventually the skin would no longer heal and the burning left scars."

"I don't see what this..." Moisha started.

"I don't want my sister in Gothwrain's power," Kasumi said bluntly. Moisha stared at her in shock, as did the Diggers sisters.

"You know Lord Gothwrain?" Moisha gasped.

"I have heard of Lord Gothwrain," Kasumi corrected in a disapproving tone.

"Like okay, probably some sort of lies and such from all you people out to..." Moisha stopped talking as the girl she was talking to brushed back her hair to reveal slightly pointed ears. Then shape-changed into a hybrid rat form with snow white fur, though her hair was still brown. Ukyou planted her face into the floor at the change while Moisha looked for the roots of Kasumi's brown hair. Brittany just blinked, trying to remember if Kasumi had been scratched at anytime.

Kasumi reached out to the stunned Moisha and pulled the zipper down from her collar to reveal her neck. She regarded the still burnt flesh under the collar and shook her head.

"Where is my sister?" she pleaded.

********

"You had to tear up your leg," Lydia muttered. "It couldn't have been an arm? Now I'll have to drag you around for at least an hour, and you still won't be able to run for who knows how long."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," the girl was saying in her heavily accented English.

"I'm not doing this for you, kid," Lydia said. "This is just to get the crap heap that stuck me here with a fucking predator." 

Lydia looked up and down the corridor and saw a door at the corner of a turn. Hoping she wasn't about to walk into the sadists' control room, she dragged the girl in that direction and stepped into the door. Looking around she smirked broadly.

"Maintenance room," she said happily. She took the werecheetah's arm off her shoulder and sat her down. She looked around and quickly found what she wanted. Grabbing the gallon of bleach she quickly zipped out of the room, hoping they weren't close enough to the cell to get there quickly. "Stay here, be quiet."

One of the primary rules she had been taught was leaving no trace. That certainly meant blood evidence, and she wasn't certain that extended to other lycanthropes, but no way was she going to leave anything for this sadist. She was splashing bleach over the girl's blood when she heard the door open and quickly shifted form and zipped out of the hole in the wall.

"I don't get it," Zelda was saying. "How did they get out? These walls are half a foot thick solid..."

"Gravel," Daishi muttered. "With about an inch of concrete covering. If the cheetah had tried, they could have left the cell at anytime. I'm surprised the trap did not do more damage."

"This is what happens when you go with the lowest bid," Ionis said. "And look, they splashed bleach all over the blood. Lord Talon isn't going to like this."

"Wait they came back?" Zelda said. "We must have just missed them."

"Yes, someone was here," Daishi said eerily. "Just before we entered. The presence is, indistinct, but there is something."

"I still don't get it," Zelda said. "I mean, that hole there is puny."

"The little one is a wererat, Zelda," Ionis said. "She can get very small. But they can't escape."

"Cease this chatter and cast the spell," Daishi said. Ionis grumbled, but concentrated his power, seeking through the compound for their quarry.

********

The door opened and Yuka tensed until she saw that strange gaijin slip into the room. The woman was rather scary in a way, mollified by the fact that she seemed to be more afraid of Yuka. She was also Yuka's only chance of getting out of here, unless somebody figured out where ever it was she was.

The woman looked around the small room for a moment then bent down to check Yuka's leg, keeping a close eye on Yuka as she did so. Yuka almost cried out as the woman touched her leg, but cut it off as she got a nervous and angry glare from the woman. The woman continued feeling her leg, not being particularly gentle about it.

Then she muttered something like "fucking glass" and grumbled angrily. She sat up and started to grab things off the shelves. While she was doing that, Yuka felt a soft warmth and glanced down to see a light emanating from the amulet she was still wearing. The light fell away quickly though.

********

"All the nearby rooms are empty," Ionis said. "I don't see how they could have gotten far with the cheetah injured."

"Something is not right," Daishi said under his breath.

"Yeah," Zelda said. "Our prisoners escaped. Of course something is not right."

********

Stripe stood up at the sound of the door bell and walked to the door. He was surprised to find Penny and Charlotte on the other side. He didn't think Gina had anything planned that she had forgotten about. Hopefully this didn't mean there was a new problem already.

"Hey Stripe," Penny said irritably. You'd think someone interrupted a date or something. "I'm here for Gina."

"Gina's not here, Penny," Stripe said. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh actually," Charlotte said. "Gina asked us to form a rescue team to go save some people from Pee Wee's Playhouse! Though why'd you want to escape from a house with a princess and a cowboy and a talking chair..."

"Charlie," Penny moaned irritably. She turned to Stripe. "She means Pee Wee Talon. Gina needs to rescue someone else, so she asked me and Ace to rescue these two. And I don't know about you, but invading Pee Wee's stronghold with just me, Charlie and Ace didn't sound too smart."

"Erwin Talon?" Konatsu said, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. "Daishi is serving him, perhaps I should come with you."

"Ummm, you know Daishi?" Penny asked what she thought was a little girl.

"Oh yes, of course," Konatsu said politely. "My stepmother was always complaining about that clan, they apparently think they're better than us."

"You're a ninja?" Penny said doubtfully. "How old are you? Thirteen?"

"Sixteen," Konatsu answered seriously.

********

"Well, this should make things a little more fair," Lydia said to herself. She smirked as she inspected her makeshift collection of weapons. "C'mon kid, let's go." She reached down to help the girl up, grumbling irritably. 

They moved to the door and peeked it open, seeing Pee Wee's goons exiting the cell. The cheetah's arm tightened around her at the sight, eliciting a pained curse from Lydia. Not to mention setting a few of the rat's hairs on end. Lydia was going to make a rather firm request when she noticed the glow coming from the girl's chest.

Lydia almost panicked and ran away screaming from the cat, but forced herself to point at the light shakily.

"What the hell is that?!" she whispered sharply.

"Father's amulet?" the girl said after a moment as if uncertain, whether about the answer or words, Lydia wasn't sure. 

Lydia was distracted from further questions as she noticed the ninja glancing in their direction. She held her breath waiting for the end to come, she wasn't ready to fight yet. Then the ninja looked away from the door, despite the fact it was cracked open. Glancing back at the light on the girl's chest, she saw it fade away as the three left the area to search the halls.

"Whatever works," she grumbled. ~I'll have to get that amulet from her when I get out of here.~ "Now let's see here." She sniffed at the air for a moment.

"What you smell?" the girl asked. Lydia glanced at her and then started taking them down a hall.

"Fresh air," she said, not really caring if the girl understood her or not. "I hope so anyway."

********

Something was bothering Daishi and he couldn't quite figure out what it was. It was something about the hall outside the cell. There was something he should have seen there, something wrong with the blank walls in those halls.

~Blank walls?~ Daishi thought to himself. ~There should have been a door there.~

"So why didn't Pee Wee install cameras outside of the maze?" Zelda asked irritably. "It would make things much easier."

"Hey," Ionis said. "Where did Daishi go?"

"I don't know, I don't care," Zelda said, smirking as she spotted something further than the hall. She strode forward cracking her knuckles. "I think I find the little runt, and there's no feline speedball to save her this time."

"Huh," Ionis said, turning to look in the direction of the door standing ajar. "Wait!! Zelda don't!"

********

Yuka watched as the woman she was with set perhaps the tenth booby trap back along their path. At least she assumed they were booby traps. They seemed more like pranks to her. She really didn't see what they would do beyond get their captors angry.

"Buckets of water?" Yuka finally ventured to ask.

There was a loud pained scream from further down the halls. The woman smiled viciously before they continued down the hall.

"Bleach," she said simply.

********

Daishi glanced back towards the sound of Zelda screaming and shook his head. He was saddled with complete amateurs. And their opponent's seemed to have unforeseen abilities. He turned a corner and saw a shimmer upon the floor.

"Wet floor," he sighed, shaking his head. Considering their resources, these two were quite good. Or at least the nezumi.

It was about time that a ninja could face against a nezumi. It was time to prove who the real masters of the shadow were. Time to put an end to this ridiculous notion that anyone was superior to a ninja.

********

"I warned you," Ionis said, smirking.

"Quit reminding me and give me another healing spell," Zelda snapped back.

"I healed the bleach burns already," Ionis said. "The only problem you have is you keeping rubbing your….eyeeeeeeeeeee!!!" Ionis went flying down the soapy hallway waving his arms frantically until he hit the tripwire at the end of the hall and flattened into the floor.

"BWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Zelda stepped doubled over, still laughing her lungs out. 

Then she took a hard solid step forward, slapping her knee. Her laughter cut off as she took an inadvertent slide down the hall on her stomach. She ended up tangled in the tripwire on top of Ionis and having trouble breathing. A rope around your neck will do that.

********

"Smell that?" Lydia said, sniffing the air. "El Ninja, by Menen. We got company coming soon. But then again, you can't understand a lot of what I'm saying so why am I telling you?"

"Ni...ninja?" the girl asked, frightened. She winced as her leg was jarred.

"Don't worry about it," Lydia said. "Ninjas are a fucking bunch of retards and amateurs." She gritted her teeth nervously ~Great, I'm stuck in some maniac's fun house being chased by thugs and carrying around a teenaged ESL predator that is probably going to tear me to pieces as soon as she can.~

She sniffed at the air again and turned a corner, wondering if she was going to be following this fresh air smell in circles for the rest of her life. The only good thing about that was that at least it would be a short time. Because whatever she said about Daishi, she knew the ninja could tear her apart.

"What I need is a little bit of a drop on this guy," Lydia muttered. "A weapon would be nice too." She had wanted to grab a broom or mop, but didn't have enough hands to drag both the girl and carry the makeshift weapon.

She turned another corner and saw something like mana from heaven. A bright glowing sign that read "exit." She paused and set down the werecheetah so she could check the girl's leg again.

"Can you walk yet?" Lydia asked sharply.

"Need to leave," the girl protested. Lydia ignored her and prodded the leg a little more, she frowned as she decided that the girl's leg was probably still broken in three or four places. She couldn't do what she planned.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Lydia snapped. She took a deep breath, helped the girl to her feet, and made for the exit. At the other end of the hallway two battered figures turned the corner and found their target. ~I'm going to die! I'm going to die! Damn!~

"GET HER!!!" Zelda shouted, charging forward as Ionis started casting a spell. Lydia turned to try to run back the other way only to see Daishi turn the corner from that direction.

"FUUUCCKK!!!" Lydia shouted as the werecheetah girl was screaming. Daishi moved forward confidently and smoothly. ~What do I do?!! What do I do?! What do I!? Wait…that might work!~ 

Lydia reached into clothes and grabbed a handful of the makeshift gas bombs she had made. Zelda was almost to her as Lydia tossed the balls to the ground and pushed the werecheetah to the side. Zelda charged heedlessly into the smoke cloud, certain that her target was in there somewhere. There was a loud a squeak and the next thing she saw was Daishi waiting cautiously on the other side of the cloud.

"You fool!" Daishi shouted as he dodged out of Zelda's way. The genetically enhanced woman smashed into the wall in order to stop. "That is exactly what she wanted you to..." The rest of his lecture was cut off as Ionis' fireball came out of the cloud and exploded between him and Zelda.

"We got her!" Ionis shouted as he turned to look at the sit of the explosion. As soon as the smoke and debris cleared he turned to see Daishi and Zelda lying dazed in the hallway, alone. "Or maybe not."

********

"That hurt," Lydia muttered. "That hurt, that fucking hurt!" One of the wererat's arms was hanging limply at her side, and both of the fugitives had flash burns from the edge of the fireball. They were moving terribly slow now, the werecheetah still couldn't support herself, and now Lydia could barely support the both of them. "I can't believe she fucking stepped on me!!"

At least they were outside that building now, but the way things were going she was going to pass out before they got out of the parking lot. From the feel, she had a collapsed lung as well as her shattered arm, shoulder and shattered ribs. The only reason she was still up is that she was used to operating with worse damage in training with Zero. The werecheetah didn't sound much better off. She was sobbing quietly and Lydia thought she may have rebroken a few of her bones in that shove.

She heard the motion behind them even before the ninja landed in front of them. Glancing back she saw the bald woman stalking up to her and cracking her knuckles. Behind the thug was the mage and that little pipsqueak calling himself Lord Talon. She remembered him from Japan, too.

~Can I get to him?~ Lydia asked herself, glaring at the smirking brat. She coughed and grimaced. ~Nope.~

"You gave us a good run," the little brat said. "But's it's over now. Still it is a good thing that they were instructed to capture you. If that had been a full powered fireball Ionis had thrown I'd have lost two very expensive bodyguards. Now, let's get you two back to your cell, where you can heal up for the next test."

~Test,~ Lydia smirked. "Don't act like I didn't just fuck all your plans up you little snot!'

"Such a mouth," Erwin said. "I think you just volunteered to be studied first." Lydia spit at him, or tried to anyway.

"Time to go, bitch," Zelda smirked. Lydia set down the cheetah and gasped as she tried to shakily prepare for the two fighters. The upcoming fight was cut short as a helicopter appeared almost out of nowhere, flying low just over the compound. "What the hell, where'd that come from?!"

"Zelda, Daishi!" Erwin shouted as the helicopter landed. "Guard me! Don't worry about them, they're not going anywhere."

"Yes, Lord Talon," Daishi said tightly moving to stand between Erwin and the helicopter.

"Later girl," Zelda snapped to Lydia threateningly. The helicopter door opened up, revealing a dark young woman smiling in vicious and victorious manner.

"Pee Wee, Pee Wee, Pee Wee," the woman said, holding a crossbow. "I should have known it was one of your fronts that leased this place."

"Excuse me?" Talon said. "What are you talking about, Penny Pincher? Wait, you mean that YOU own this land?!" Lydia almost groaned, she recognized the name from her files, she'd just fallen into the hands of the werecheetah's people. She was more doomed than ever now.

"Got it in one little boy!" Penny said, growling at the nickname. "And you're late on your rent, but that isn't why I'm here."

"Then I have you to thank for the shoddy construction!" Talon snapped angrily. "Forget rent until this place is built to my specifications. Wait, why are you here?"

"Well, I'm taking your guests back to Japan," said. "And don't even think about trying to stop me, I was...busy when Gina called me, and really want to get back to being busy as soon as possible."

"I don't see how you intend to get away with them," Zelda said. "There is no way that you can beat all three of us by yourself."

"Ace, Charlie, everybody else," Penny called back over her shoulder. A small turret on the helicopter rotated to face Pee Wee and his playmates as Charlotte and Stripe stepped out to stand next to Penny. "You were saying?"

Daishi tensed to move and was surprised to find himself dropped to the ground by something. As he flipped back to his feet, he caught a glimpse of a kunoichi moving to join Penny's group.

Erwin, Ionis and Zelda gulped nervously as Daishi growled irritably, glaring at the apparent girl that had taken him off guard.

"I am so dead," Lydia muttered before blacking out.

********

"Yeah, Gina," Penny said into the communicator. "We got your lycanthropes."

"Already?" Gina sounded surprised. "That's a relief."

"Yes," Penny said. "Well, when you're a genius of my caliber..."

"Penny," Ace said from the pilot's seat. She rolled her eyes and looked back at the fuming Gina.

"Anyway, Pee Wee blew the scene as soon as I started talking cops," Penny said. "I swear, when I learn how to track a magical transit, those jerks are toast."

"Oh, a genius of your caliber can't do that?" Gina asked. Penny frowned fractionally. "But thanks a lot for the help. I hope the rat didn't give you any trouble, she's something of an enemy of Brit's."

"Actually," Penny said hesitantly looking back into the copter. "She's in bad shape. Both of them are."

"What happened?" Brittany asked, getting in the screen.

"It looks like someone dropped a bulldozer on the rat," Penny said. "She has one whole side almost crushed. The cheetah has a broken leg, but it's almost healed already."

"Not magic, silver or another werecreature though," Brittany asked.

"Don't think so," Penny said, shaking her head. "No."

"Then she'll heal," Brittany said, smirking with a "serves her right" expression. Then her expression lit up. "OOOO!! HI Muffin!! Are you coming to Japan again?" Penny rolled her eyes and handed the communicator to Stripe.

"If you're going to talk to Stripe," Gina's muffled voice said. "Why not just take the communicator and stay out of my face." As the communicator was given to the young married couple and the conversation appeared to degenerate to sweet talk, Penny worked her way back in the copter to check on the wererat.

"Is she going to be okay?" the young cheetah asked worriedly in Japanese.

"I think so," Penny said back in Japanese. "She's hurt bad, but you people heal fast. Look at your leg, it was trash when we picked you up. I'll bet you can walk now."

"Well maybe it just wasn't hurt that bad," the girl protested weakly.

"Trust me," Penny said. "I've seen Brittany take some nasty hits, and she's up and around the next day. This girl'll be fine."

"Who's Brittany?" the cheetah asked.

"A friend of mine, a werecheetah like you," Penny said. "You'll be meeting her."

"Oh," the girl said. She remembered the fight that had gotten her in this mess. "I think I might have already."

"For a moment, I'm told," Penny said. "By the way, stop smacking your lips at Charlotte." She pointed to where Charlotte was scrunched against a corner of the copter.

"Sorry," the girl said, embarrassed.

"Hey, girl," Penny said. "Is that you glowing?" The girl looked down at the amulet around her neck and swallowed nervously.

********

Lydia, blinked awake, or at least she thought she did, to the sight of endless and impenetrable darkness. She sat up quickly arm set to lean on a ground that was not there. She straightened her body into a standing position and glanced around for a sign of anything.

The darkness vanished all very suddenly, replaced by a serene, moonlit forest clearing. In the middle of the clearing a werecheetah stood over the torn and bleeding bodies of a wererat, and...himself?

"What the fuck?" Lydia gasped, then covered her mouth. Great, just great. Now she'd gone and gotten herself killed anyway. And why wasn't she running already? Probably because it wouldn't do any good.

The werecheetah turned and shrank into what Lydia assumed was going to be its human form. Which is why she was momentarily confused when the tail didn't go away. She took a closer look at the "cheetah" and saw.

"Gothwrain?!" she gasped. He was much younger, but it was definitely him. She looked down at the bodies, and found herself recognizing the dying, for she was still breathing, rat. Then it was the darkness again. "Lord Gothwrain killed the seer? No, that's not possible. It was the cheetahs!" 

That's what she'd learned as a child, the cheetah assassin killed Cassandra to keep her from warning the rats about their plans. All the clan knew that. And they knew that Gothwrain had killed the assassin somehow and brought Cassandra's warning anyway. That was the history of this age. 

Whatever this dream had been. It was just that, a dream, a lie.

It had to be.

********

Gina looked away from Brittany and her cutesy talk and turned to Moisha. The wererat was sitting very nervously in the room, watching everybody else. She kept a very close eye on the werecheetah with the very big, sharp, fighting instrument, and an even closer one on Brittany. In most experienced warriors this meant they were prepared to fight at any given time. In Moisha's case, she looked petrified and prepared to run at any given moment. Which made Gina sort of doubt that the girl was telling them the truth.

At least they had managed to find some clothes for her.

"This is the hotel?" Gina asked.

"Chwa," Moisha said. "Yeah, I like told you already, now can I go?" She sounded like she still thought they were going to kill her when they were finished.

"So you don't have anyway to contact your friends if you get separated?" Gina asked doubtfully.

"Lydia said something," Moisha answered nervously. "But I never, like, thought about it, you know?" Gina smacked her head with her hand, she could almost believe it with this ditz.

"So your friend Lydia should know something right?" Gina asked.

"For sure, if you can like find her, you know?" Moisha said. Gina smiled.

"We found her," Gina said. Moisha, already somewhat nervous, choked at that news.

"You caught LYDIA?!" Moisha gasped.

"Hey, considering who had her first," Gina said dryly. "I'd call it a rescue. Are you sure you don't know where they might take that girl?"

"Uhhh...no," Moisha said nervously. ~Well, Lydia will, like, know what to do about that Kasumi person and getting away. But what if that girl's right about Lord Gothwrain?~

********

Nabiki looked around her cell. She insisted on thinking of it in that way, despite appearances to the contrary. Most people would look around the room and see a decent hotel room, or spartan quarters. They wouldn't notice the lack of windows, or the fact that the processed air was coming through the cracks of the door rather than an air grate somewhere.

~Well, I messed up when they picked me up,~ Nabiki thought. ~Let's see if you can remember your own rules, Nabiki. Rule one, don't let them know you're in control until you're in control.~ Well she'd never really numbered them before, but might as well. She had nothing better to do.

That was no problem, all she had to do was shuffle nervously, fidget and look around without really looking for anything. Basically act like a normal teenaged girl trying to be brave in a scary situation. Make sure not to overplay it though. She had shown some ice earlier, so best to keep some ice in the act.

The door opened to admit the withered old man and his bodyguards. Gothwrain, she thought that was the name. He gave her a comforting smile, somewhat grandfatherly. It didn't fool her, but she let her body language relax fractionally.

"How do you like your room?" the old man asked.

"It is fine," Nabiki said, just a hint of a quiver. 

"I think it's time we got to know each other," he said, sitting down in a chair across from her. "I am Lord Gothwrain."

"Kaoru." The old man smiled and produced Nabiki's wallet, Nabiki swore angrily at the site of the item and tensed up again.

So far so good. 

"A nickname, Miss Tendo?" the old man asked.

"You don't expect me to be cooperative," Nabiki said.

"Oh, but I do," Gothwrain said, he smiled again. "Eventually. Helping me, helps yourself, after all."

"Then you'll let me go home," Nabiki asked, doubtfully.

"Not until we know it's safe for you," he said. "You were taken from the grasp of three werecats, and two of my elite warriors were lost in the operation."

~You were there for Yuka,~ Nabiki thought. ~Just like everybody else.~ "You mean those girls?"

"Yes," Gothwrain said. "You should be more appreciative of their loss."

"Look, I just want to get through school and get a job somewhere," Nabiki said. "I don't know anything about warriors, or cats or whatever."

"Oh, really," Gothwrain said, he gestured to one of his guards. Nabiki nearly panicked as the large man drew a gun.

"Now wai..." Nabiki started to protest frantically before the shot rang out. 

She felt something hit her chest and pass through like a heavy punch. She felt her heart shredded by the bullet and her back torn out as the bullet passed through her. She tried to take a breath as everything faded to dark around her.

********

"Well," Gothwrain smiled, looking at Nabiki's slumped body. "She panicked." He stood up and started for the door.

"What does that mean, Lord?" one of the bodyguards asked.

"Why that she either still expects any gunshot to kill her," Gothwrain explained. "Or else she expected those to be silver bullets."

"So is she a stray..." the bodyguard's lip curled. "Or deserter?"

"Stray is more likely," Gothwrain said. "See to it that she is trained. In either case I can make use of her."

********

Nabiki woke up alone in her room with a great, heaving breath. For just a moment she thought that maybe the whole thing was a dream. But the smell of blood and fire was strong in the air, and all it took was looking down at the hole in her dress to see that the gunshot had been real.

Nabiki shivered almost uncontrollably for a few moments before virtually leaping out of the chair. She glanced back to see the hole blasted on by the bullet going through the chair, and the blood that had stained the room behind her.

"Oh kami, I can't do this," Nabiki muttered quietly to herself. She took a few moments to calm herself down and start thinking again, not wanting to determine if she had been dead or merely unconscious just now. ~Patience, patience, he doesn't want to kill you yet. An opportunity will come, just wait for it.~

********

"We already went shopping yesterday," Ranko said, not certain what more they could get, that she hadn't already.

"Well, now we can shop some more," Brianna said, as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

"With what money?" Ranko asked. "Because I've noticed they don't take Earth money around here."

"And that's why we're taking a little side trip first," Sheila said, entering the lobby and sitting at their table. Ranko turned to look at her and nearly jumped. Sheila was in her hybrid form, apparently geared up for battle rather than shopping. "Sorry, can't stay human for what we're going to do."

"What are we going to do?" Ranko asked nervously. "Rob the bank?"

"Nope, can't do that," Sheila said. "We're the good guys around here. No, there's an old tower I passed on my way here. Shouldn't take us more than a half-day or so to root around in it and get back here with something to go crazy with."

"So, we're going to go adventuring then?" Brianna asked eagerly, a nearly bloodthirsty look in her eyes. "Hmm, I should get Genn to come with us so he can translate for Ranma."

"Well," Sheila hesitated a moment. "I was kind of thinking she could stay here, I mean this is going to be dangerous for a kid." She seemed to be forgetting Ranko's casual discussion of Ryouga's skills yesterday.

"I defeated a god once," Ranko said. Brianna and Sheila both stared at her in shock. "Well, sort of."

"Go get Genn," Sheila said.

********

"Hey, sensai, you seen my sister?" Ranma asked as he joined the elder Diggers a little outside the town.

"She, Genn and Brianna went to explore some old tower with one of Brianna's friends," Julia said with a hint of nostalgia. Ranma face planted at the statement.

"She actually went LOOKING for trouble?" Ranma asked.

"As if you don't?" Akane asked, rolling her eyes.

"I go lookin' for a cure, ta save you, or trouble comes looking for me," Ranma protested.

"You know," Julia said, turning to smirk at Theo. "If it weren't for Ryan I'd start to think that all you Earth men were a bunch of over-cautious worry warts." The mage sighed and rolled his eyes at the teasing.

"They plan to be back soon," Theo assured Ranma.

"Yeah," Ranma said. "With all of hell on her heels."

"Let's get to the exercise for now," Julia said. "If they don't get back by nightfall then we'll descend on the place in full wrath." She almost sounded as if she'd enjoy that. Then again, Ranma was sort of hoping the Ryouga would wander back so that he could get a good spar in. So maybe he could understand that.

"So how is a fighting technique going help me with the Nekoken?" Ranma asked.

"A fighting technique won't," Julia said. "Meditation techniques will." Ranma's enthusiasm dwindled noticeably.

"Meditation techniques?" Ranma repeated doubtfully.

"Hey," Julia said. "Don't knock it until you've tried it."

"Don't worry," Theo said. "We won't start with the serious stuff until we have your sister here too."

"Why should I be worried about sitting around and starin' at nothing?" Ranma asked.

"What do you mean serious stuff?" Akane asked.

"Where's mom?" Ranma asked.

"I am here," Nodoka said. "I apologize for being late, but I had to...inform that Tirga fellow that I was already married." Ranma glanced at his mother in her hybrid form and shuffled nervously, he was almost to the point where she didn't freak him out.

"If we're all here then?" Julia asked. "Let's get started."

********

"Souloficesouloficesoulofice," Ranko muttered as she walked through the crumbling archway with Brianna and Sheila.

"Sheesh," Sheila turned around slowly to look at Ranko. "It was a cub. A lousy little cub." The werejaguar seemed rather irritated about the incident.

"Trust me on this one Sheila," Brianna said. "A cat person getting in her face is exactly what we don't need right now."

"Why, what'll happen?" Sheila asked.

"She turns into a cat," Genn said. "Mentally." The rakshasha turned to Ranko. "I can help you with that you know."

"That's fine, thank you," Ranko muttered. "I can handle it. Souloficesouloficesoulofice."

"Shhhh," Sheila said. "I think I hear something."

"MORTAL FOOLS!! I SHALL TEAR YOUR ETERNAL SOULS FROM YOUR FLESHY HUSKS AND-OUCH!! Ouch! Ouch!" The shouting creature was reptilian, somewhat dragon or demonic in appearance. And it was currently being pelted by blasts from Brianna's gun at extremely low power. "That's it lady, you're going first!!"

It started to charge for Brianna, for about two feet. Its headlong charge as Brianna upped the power of her gun by a few settings. Its motion reversed and the large creature slammed into a wall before slumping down to the ground.

"That was easy," Brianna said cheerfully. She returned the gun to low setting and continued pelting the creature's senseless form with low energy blasts.

"Uh, Brianna," Genn said nervously. "It's not done yet."

"Oh goody," Brianna said with a wide grin.

"Is she always like this?" Ranko asked Sheila and Genn nervously. They nodded, rolling their eyes. The demon-dragon thing stood up and roared loudly.

"YOU THINK SUCH PALTRY POWER CAN--huh?!!" 

The creature blinked as he looked forward. Sheila and Ranko were charging forward to enter melee while Brianna was powering up her gun again. Then there was the big minotaur that had somehow replaced the scrawny wimp with the horns. 

"Oh bloody hell," the creature moaned.

********

"Now, I know you can do this," Julia said, sounding somewhat frustrated. "When we were sparring you kept your cool very well. So you'd think that you could do this now."

"He's probably too bored," Akane said, tapping her fingers.

"Well, you try sittin' and doin' nothing for an hour," Ranma protested.

"You're doing nothing," Julia said. "I'm focusing."

"Ranma," Nodoka said. "Haven't you had some experience in the past with meditation techniques?"

"Well, sort of," Ranma shrugged. "But that's all for fighting techniques."

"Like what techniques," Julia asked.

"Umm, Zanshin, Soul of Ice, chi summonin'," he shrugged and looked around. He thought about mentioning the umisen. It might technically be a meditation technique, erasing your presence like that, but it was a sealed art.

"Describe them," Julia instructed.

"Well, Zanshin is being aware and on guard all the time," Ranma said. "Soul of Ice is keepin' your cool even while fighting or being embarrassed. And chi summoning is sorta just for forming your emotions and chi inta somethin' useful."

"That middle one sounds promising," Julia said, nodding. "Let's see it."

The chi summoning one was obvious, and Zanshin sounded exactly like the warrior's sense. His description of Soul of Ice was too general for her to place it among the list of techniques one could learn in Jade, there were several techniques that could do the same thing.

"Well, all right," Ranma said. "Not much to see on its own though." The change came without any visible mark. One moment Ranma was standing there, the next moment Ranma was standing there some more. 

"It's part of the Hiryu Shoten Ha," Akane said. "He's never used it for much anything else."

"Yes, well we can see that some other time," Julia said. ~Stay on task, Julia.~ She glanced to her husband and walked over towards him. "Well?" She spoke quietly and in English. Theo had enchanted her to be able to speak and understand Japanese. He had not enchanted the Saotomes or Akane to understand English.

"The technique is not focused on calming him," Theo answered. His eyes glowed slightly as he probed Ranma's mind lightly. "Just letting him keep control. I'm guessing it's to keep him from getting distracted in a fight."

"Yeah, and the temperature dropped when he started," Julia said. "But at least he's not a total stranger to this. Now, how to make meditating seem interesting to him."

"And how did you manage it?" Theo asked.

"Master Leep," Julia said dryly, almost growling.

"Ah, that makes sense," Theo said. Julia's old master would require some sort of calming technique to deal with.

********

"This isn't good," Sheila said, frowning as she kicked the body of the creature they had just beaten.

"Did you...kill it?" Ranko asked hesitantly. Sheila glanced at her and blinked.

"No," she said sharply. "Just tore apart its body."

"Eh?" Ranko blinked. "But that's killing it!" She sounded aghast at the possibility.

"It wanted to suck out our souls and tear us limb from limb," Brianna said. "What would you expect us to do?"

"Hey, we're the ones invading the thing's home here!" Ranko protested.

"Nope," Sheila said. "It's invading ours. It's a drakyn, look the body is already changing back to ash and smoke." She pointed at the dead drakyn and sure enough the creature's features were seemingly burning away into a black ash and a smelly grey smoke that was slowly filling the room.

"Wow, that's a quick decay," Brianna said, giving an impressed whistle. Then she blinked. "What do you mean, it's invading here?"

"I don't care if it is a dragon!" Ranko said. "We should have just knocked it out." Sheila sighed, exasperated.

"We didn't kill it," Genn said suddenly, shrinking to his normal form. "I felt it leaving the body. I think what Sheila's trying to say is that this thing is like a puppet for some sort of spirit." Sheila nodded. "And it is completely evil, all it hopes to do is cause pain and suffering."

"You mean it's like a ghost?" Ranko asked uncertainly.

"Nope, like a demon," Sheila said. "There'll be a couple of fires somewhere in here. One big one for materials, and one small magical one as a gateway. There'll probably be an idiotic mage standing around to tend the fires and summon more of them too. We find the fires, shut down the gateway and arrest the idiots. Or else we'll have a full scale invasion on our hands."

Ranko still seemed uncertain and frowned, shuffling irritably.

"These things like to take people's souls and torture them throughout eternity," Sheila explained. "If we CAN kill it, all the souls it's taken go free. Personally, I don't think we can kill it with what we got, but we can send it back to its own realm."

Ranma fidgeted a moment, but finally nodded.

"Good," Sheila said. "Now about that fire. It can't be upstairs, we'd have seen it in the windows."

"Down we go then," Brianna smirked, leading the way for the four of them toward the basement door. She opened the door cautiously and stepped lightly down the corridor. "I should have my battle armor for this."

The stairs came down to a fair-sized cellar, but there was no fire sight. In fact the whole thing looked quite damp and moldy. Not at all the type of place a fire creature would dwell.

"Well, maybe the fire is upstairs afterall," Brianna said.

"I'm telling you we would have seen it," Sheila said. "We're talking a huge fire here."

"Ummm," Ranko said. "This wall's kinda hot." Something prickled in the back of her mind, that prickle she always got just before..."Oh shit." She whispered as she stepped back from the wall.

"Ranko! LOOK OUT!" Genn shouted as the wall exploded outward and a black, clawed hand reached out and grabbed hold of the werecheetah. A black smoke enveloping her.

"YOUR SOULS ARE MINE!!!"

********

Ranko didn't know what happened. One moment some monster was grabbing her, and the next moment she was in this dark...room. She thought it was room anyway. She couldn't see any walls or ceiling.

Then suddenly there was a blinding light and stifling heat. Ranko covered her eyes until they adjusted, and she could discern what was standing there. A humanoid figure of pure flame and corrupt light.

"You didn't seriously think that you could defeat me," the flame creature said in a roaring voice. "Child?"

~It's after my soul!~ Ranko gasped. ~Like what the c..c..ca…jaguar lady said.~

"I have your soul," the being laughed hideously. "And what a powerful soul it is, you should bring me power beyond..." Ranko was making ready to fight the creature as it approached her, but both of them froze at a new sound.

"Rrrrowwr!!" It echoed around the room, in the darkness the drakyn's flame could not reach.

"What is this?!" the drakyn demanded. Ranko shivered nervously.

"C...c..." she shivered nervously. Then a cat from Ranko's nightmares charged the drakyn out of the darkness. An alley cat the size of a polar bear, lean, thin, with a vicious fang-filled mouth, huge talons dripping venom. "CCAAAAAAAAATTT!!!"

********

"Ranko!" Sheila gasped in despair, seeing the hand grab the young were-cheetah. This was her fault! She should have made the girl stay in town, and now it was too late.

"You bastard!!" Brianna shouted. She brought her gun up to her shoulder and nearly pulled the trigger as Sheila and Genn began to move as well.

"AAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEE!!!" The creature screamed as it exploded in burst of silvery grey light that blanked out all else.

"-AAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT!!!" The second scream was undoubtedly Ranko's.

"C...c...cat?" Ranko whimpered, as she fought down the shivering in the fading light.

"Hey, she's all right," Brianna shouted, relieved. Ranko knees gave out underneath her and both Brianna and Genn moved to her side.

Sheila blinked in surprise, uncertain of what she had just seen. Had that girl just killed the drakyn? She hesitated a moment, moving toward the hole in the wall to ascertain no more surprises would be coming before anything else.

"There's no cat," Genn said soothingly. He wasn't certain just how safe it would be to go into Ranko's mind at the moment.

"No cat," Ranko repeated, calming down a little. "Okay."

"Yeah," Brianna said. "Well, except for us."

"The cat killed it," Ranko said. "And then it picked me up."

"Well they're both gone now," Brianna said. "Everything's going to be fine."

"Uh, no it's not," Sheila said. "We have a problem."

"What?" Brianna asked. "Didn't the bad guy just go boom?"

"I just found a fire," Sheila said faintly.

"So, put it out with that ice thing of yours then," Brianna said, coming to look through the hole with Sheila. Genn and Ranko, the werecheetah much calmer now that she could see no signs of a cat, stepped up next to her to also see what was up.

"I don't think I can quite do that," Sheila said.

"Oh...poop!" Brianna agreed wholeheartedly.

"We just have to put out the small fire," Ranko suggested hopefully. "Right?"

"And how do we find it?" Genn asked. "Before whoever started this summons another demon?"

The hole that had been smashed through the cellar wall opened into a huge cavern. And at the bottom of the cavern, hundreds of feet down, sat a huge lake of molten lava.

********

A shimmering ring of silver light flashed across the skies of Jade. The ring slowly faded to nothing as it expanded, it's light diluted and invisible.

"What the hell was that?" Ranma demanded loudly. "Does that happen often?"

"Those were souls," Theo said. "Something powerful and evil just died."

"Well, I guess that's good," Akane said.

"Unless there's more of them," Julia said. "And that's in the direction Brianna went. Come on Theo!" Theo was already starting to gather power for a transport spell.

"Hey!" Ranma shouted. "You aren't going anywhere without me."

"Us!" Akane corrected. "I'm not letting you go off alone. I'm worried about Ranko too."

"I am not willing to leave my children in danger," Nodoka ascertained. 

"I wouldn't ask you to," Julia said. "Okay, Theo let's go." 

And then the five of them vanished from the scene. In the air behind them a faint complaint of "I told you she'd bring hell down on us," wafted through the air.


	4. Familiar Problems

"Umm," Yuka stared down at her amulet and continued to  
try to figure out what was going. "I don't know what  
it's doing."  
  
"Mind if I take a look?" Penny asked. Yuka nodded and  
started to lift it off her neck. "No don't take it  
off! It's magic, you don't know what'll happen if you  
take it off!" Yuka froze and carefully let it fall  
back around her neck.  
  
"Ummm," Yuka said again. "This has been in my family  
for a long time. I..it's never done anything like this  
before."  
  
"Hmm," looked over the amulet closely, intrigued. "I  
might need Gina's help on this one. It's Japanese  
hiragana, but the words aren't Japanese."  
  
"Those are words?" Yuka asked. She glanced back and  
forth for a moment before continuing in a whisper. "I  
sort of thought they were just decoration. It was made  
by gaijin ancestor of mine."  
  
"Considering all of us are gaijin here," Penny said  
harshly. "That's hardly something to be embarrassed  
about. You wouldn't happen to know where in the world  
that gaijin came from would you?"  
  
"Ummm," she said calmly. "Africa." Penny considered  
that and smirked.  
  
"That cuts things down a bit," she said triumphantly.  
She looked to Stripe and switched to English.  
"Britanny said her family had been living on the  
Serenghetti, right?"  
  
"That's right," Stripe said curiously. "Why do you  
need to know?"  
  
"Well, let's start from there then," Penny said as she  
continued to study the glowing amulet, marvelling that  
the glow didn't seem to obscure any of the marks.  
  
Nobody noticed the matching glow faintly emanating  
from under Lydia's eyes.  
  
********  
  
"History is what the winners make of it," a voice  
said.   
  
Lydia turned about and almost felt herself frightened  
into her human form as she saw the tawny figure  
walking toward her.   
  
The emotional response at seeing the lion-woman stride  
forward seemed to just hit a brick wall and stop. It  
was as if her there was something beside herself  
telling her to be afraid. Lydia appeared confused at  
the sensation and prepared for the woman to approach  
her.  
  
"No spells shall reach here," the lion-woman said.   
"You won't have a problem with fearing cats any more  
than you would normally."  
  
"What %$^$# spells?" Lydia asked suspiciously. She  
watched a stone circle form underneath her and the  
woman. It was an old circle engraved with  
heiroglyphics. "You mean the spells Iceron cast upon  
you #$%@ cats to scare us."  
  
"Iceron yes," the woman said as she started to  
stretch. Her tufted tail whipped in a manner that  
appeared to be slow and lazy, but actually involved a  
great deal of control and endurance. "The cats no. No  
this particular spell was cast on you specifically."  
  
"What do you mean on me specifically?" Lydia asked.   
"It's not like Iceron is still around to cast  
spells."  
  
"Iceron is around," the woman said. "Drastically  
reduced in power since he underestimated a young  
human, but still dangerous."  
  
The woman stood up and stretched, suddenly Lydia noted  
that she was dressed in something like the Egyptian  
warrior chicks in the Mummy Returns had worn. Lydia  
herself was dressed in her own full battle armor,  
instinctively she could feel all her standard weapons  
in place.  
  
"What the #@$%'s going on?" Lydia asked getting into  
stance.  
  
"I'm going to give you a test," the woman said. Lydia  
tensed at the way the woman phrased test. Zero often  
talked like that.  
  
"What's your name?" Lydia demanded getting ready for  
battle.  
  
"I'm called Sehkmet," the woman said, a staff  
appearing in her hand. "Let's begin."  
  
********  
  
"Any sign of Lydia McKracken?" Gothwrain asked.   
  
"No Lord," the wererat in front of him said. "Moisha  
Rich is in the custody of the cats and an apparent  
traitor, however. We should be able to get her easy  
enough."  
  
"Miss Rich is of no consequence," Gothwrain snapped.  
"Find, Lydia. Either alive or dead, it doesn't matter  
as long as you find her."  
  
"I don't understand," the wererat said perplexed. "She  
is a child, what is her importance."  
  
"You don't need to know her importance," Gothwrain  
said icily. "She is important to me, that is all you  
need to know." The wererat blinked and bowed, leaving  
the room.  
  
~I never thought that he'd turn sentimental about  
anyone,~ the wererat thought in a confused manner.  
Gothwrain looked out the window into the world and  
frowned at the turn of events.  
  
He had thought he had found the focus of the prophecy.  
After all there had only been one werecheetah left.  
Then these others began to pop up. He wasn't even  
certain if the werecheetah in question had to be born  
with the proper genes anymore. For all he knew, it  
could have been an awakened werecheetah, or even an  
infected one.  
  
To make matters worse he had lost her. His precious  
trophy. It was so pleasing to see her doing even minor  
tasks of his will.  
  
Suddenly his eyes widened.  
  
"Wait!" he called out. "I have a better idea." The old  
man smiled darkly as the wererat started walking back  
to him.  
  
********  
  
"Lord Gothwrain will debrief you himself when he is  
ready," the bodyguard said. "Until that time you stay  
in the room."  
  
"But I was hoping to know if there has been any word  
of Lydia and Moisha," Romeo said.  
  
"You let the cats get them," the man said, dripping  
hostility. "What do you think happened to them?" Romeo  
winced at that and by the time he recovered the door  
was closed and he was locked in his room.  
  
Romeo frowned as he considered that his ineptitude had  
cost him his two closest friends. It was right that he  
should die to make up for the failure.  
  
He sighed and looked around himself at the comfortable  
room they had put him in. A comfortable, escape proof  
room. The ventilator in the ceiling above allowed some  
air into the room and he took a deep breath in  
preparation of a sigh.  
  
His breath caught in his throat as he caught a scent  
on the air. It smelled like soul char and...blood?  
Familiar blood.  
  
"But...she wasn't hurt when I brought her in," Romeo  
said hesitantly. He stood up and looked at the  
ventilator, and concentrated. He thought he could hear  
something in the background.  
  
********  
  
"It hurts doesn't it, traitor?" the man asked her.  
  
Nabiki blinked, breathing heavily.  
  
"What are you talking about?" she asked wearily,  
eyeing the silver bar the man held in his hand. "I  
don't even kn...AAHHHH!!!" The man snapped the bar  
into her back again.  
  
"We saw that your sister speaking to those cats," he  
said. "She even seemed to be telling them what to do."  
  
"Akane?" Nabiki gasped. "She's on Jade." She cursed  
herself for letting that slip out.  
  
"Well the white-furred bitch is back!" the man  
snapped, striking her again. Nabiki welcomed the  
strike, as the scream hid her own gasp of surprise.  
  
"Stop now," Gothwrain's voice said over the intercom.  
"She might not be complicit in her sibiling's  
behavior. This is plenty of punishment for the  
accident of her birth."  
  
Nabiki dropped as they untied her arms and she weakly  
struggled to stand up. Her torturer kicked her in the  
face as she started to rise and she fell back down,  
crying out in pain. She was dimmly aware of the man  
leaving her room and the door closing behind her.  
  
"My apologies Miss Tendo," Gothwrain's disembodied  
voice said sorrowfully. Nabiki bought it about as much  
as she bought the idea that Akane had dyed her her  
white. "There was an insistance among the elders that  
at least a little punishment be levied towards you for  
your involvement with the enemy."  
  
"Go away," Nabiki snapped, crawling onto the bed and  
lying on her stomach. She was in no mood to duel wits  
with him, and would, if possible, just deny him the  
sport.  
  
"As you wish," Gothwrain said, and the intercom  
switched off. Nabiki's breath almost caught in  
surprise at that. Certainly he'd try to banter with  
her more. She shivered...unless these were just the  
preliminaries.  
  
********  
  
He shifted in his rest.  
  
He blinked and realized something.  
  
First he was thinking clearly for the first time in  
centuries.  
  
~What has happened,~ he thought. Then he remembered.   
  
An amateur magician had enacted a binding ceremony to  
force him into some human child. If the attempted  
enslavement wasn't enough of an insult, he had used  
some flawed ritual. It had almost destroyed him and  
the child. Instead of an obediant and powerful  
servant, the old fool had driven the both of them  
insane.  
  
"Am I free?" he asked.  
  
A shiver ran through his world. An overwhelming rush  
of fear washed over the realm, and he almost reverted  
to an instinctual creature intent on fighting the  
source of the fear. He was still in that child.  
  
And that child was walking into a confrontation of the  
demonic variety.  
  
"Careful, human," he growled. "You'll destroy us both  
if you're not careful."  
  
********  
  
"Oh my...." Ranma gasped quietly. Everyone turned  
around to stare at him as they appeared at the sight  
of the demon's death. He seemed pale even through the  
fur, and just the look at how his fur was sticking on  
end set Akane's teeth on edge.  
  
"What's wrong, Ranma," Akane asked. Julia and Nodoka  
were likewise confused, but Theo's face turned equally  
pale as he looked at Ranma's aura.  
  
"It's a spirit," he said, impressed.  
  
"What's a spirit?" Nodoka asked nervously.  
  
"You don't mean the Neko-Ken," Julia asked. "Do you?"  
  
"He d...does," Ranma squeaked nervously.  
  
"You mean...Ranma is possessed?" Akane demanded.  
  
********  
  
"You understand now what we're dealing with," Sheila  
said as they reached the bottom of the cavern. "This  
isn't something to treat with kid gloves and give a  
second chance."  
  
"I guess not," Ranko said sullenly. She stopped for a  
moment and considered.   
  
Ranma would have been willing to kill by now. In fact  
he had been quite ready to kill that oni long ago, and  
he had basically killed Saffron's last incarnation.  
Ranko was still looking for ways around it.  
  
"Just..." Brianna paused worried at the sudden stop.  
"Just keep on your toes and let Sheila and me handle  
the actually finishing them off." Sheila's expression  
clearly showed that Brianna's comment was quite a bit  
beyond her power.  
  
"I don't think I'm going to continue perfecting the  
Art," Ranko said, looking down at her hands. She  
started walking forward again.  
  
********  
  
"That way!" another spirit was declaring loudly. "That  
way is the prey!!"   
  
She really did feel bad about scaring the human she  
was bound with, but she could smell the demons coming.  
She wasn't free to fight as she choose, but this girl  
seemed skilled enough to fight these demons. And she  
could always kill them if they tried to take the  
girl's soul.  
  
Ranko suddenly froze and started shaking, looking as  
if the most horrible thing in the world had been  
placed before her. In a way, it had.  
  
"I...i..i..it's t...t.this way," Ranko said. Brianna  
and Sheila both looked at her curiously and looked  
down the cold, seemingly fireless tunnel she had just  
pointed out.  
  
"Are you sure?" Brianna asked.  
  
"How can you possibly know?" Sheila asked.  
  
"T...t...the Ne..kk...ko..ken...told me," she said  
shivering almost uncontrolably.  
  
********  
  
Nabiki snapped awake with a headache. She'd been in  
contact with enough magic to know an attempt to  
rearrange her mind when she felt one. Maybe she had  
fought this one off by instinct, but the next time.   
She wasn't really trained for this, and the physical  
threat wasn't helping her concentration.  
  
She shivered as she realized that she would fall  
eventually.  
  
"I guess there's just the Mandarin approach then," she  
whispered to herself. At least when she got out of  
here they now knew some magicians who should be able  
to remove whatever her captors did to her.  
  
********  
  
"Are you sure she's going to be fine?" Yuka asked,  
indicating Lydia. "S...she hasn't woken up yet." Penny  
glanced over at Lydia, but only gave her a cursory  
glance.  
  
"Looks like she's mostly healed," Penny said, turning  
back to the notes she had taken on Yuka's amulet.   
  
She thought she had it right, but was checking her  
translations again to make sure. She was considering  
asking Yuka to let her look directly at it again to  
see if she had everything right.   
  
"She's probably just sleeping it off now."  
  
"Maybe she's making it glow," Charlotte said, pointing  
to Lydia. Penny glanced at her confused.  
  
"I seriously doubt that, Charlie," Penny said. Then  
she paused. "Incidentally, why do you say that?"  
  
"Well her eyes are glowing the same color and..."  
Charlotte didn't get to finish as Penny sat up to  
examine Lydia's eyes closely.  
  
"Stripe," Penny called out. "Any of those artifacts  
give you telepathy?"  
  
"No, Penny," he said, coming over to look at the  
wererat as well.  
  
"Penny," Ace called back. "We're going to land pretty  
soon, better get ready to move everybody for the trip  
to Japan."  
  
********  
  
Lydia flipped over a strike and then ducked down into  
the splits as Sehkmet flashed her staff back in an  
attempt to catch her. Lydia rose up from the ground on  
one hand, sending a dagger flying out of her other.  
Sehkmet barely dodged to the side as the dagger  
slashed past her feline face. The silver dagger didn't  
burn her.  
  
"If you're going to give me weapons for this fight  
were-bitch," Lydia said flipping over Sehkmet's head  
and landing on the staff as the cat tried to strike on  
the landing. "At least make it real silver--omph!"  
  
Her perch had whipped out from under her at a speed  
that she would have thought impossible and then the  
other end smacked into her. Lydia's next thoughts were  
encompassed by the onrushing wall. She quickly adapted  
Zero's soft fall technique and twisted around to  
bounce off the wall, wondering just when that had  
become part of the terrain.  
  
"Who ever said I was a were-lion, Miss McKraken?"  
Sehkmet asked, she lunged forward striking with her  
staff in a series of precise attacks. Lydia shifted  
into her rat form and flowed through them by virtue of  
that, skittering under and past Sehkmet's reach.  
  
Shifting into her hybrid from as she reached Sehkmet's  
side. A swift strike with her sword followed, only  
barely blocked to the side by a vertical spinning  
block from the staff.  
  
"You're overcommitting, lady," Lydia sneered as she  
backed off and sat into stance to wait for the woman  
to come again. As long as she held her weapons she had  
a chance against this...person. ~Wait...if this is a  
dream. Zero says creativity is almost vital to  
victory. In this case, I think it's just little  
#$%@@# more important than that.~  
  
Sehkmet's eyes narrowed angrily.  
  
"You had better be who I think you are," Sehkmet  
growled. "No one presumes to correct me."   
  
Before Lydia could respond Sehkmet was charging  
forward. The staff stabbed past Lydia, and the rat  
slashed downward with her sword as her other hand  
slashed up. Curiously, it contained the dagger she had  
thrown into the darkness before the wall had risen.  
  
Sehkmet gasped in surprise as her staff was snapped in  
two and nearly allowed herself to be cut as Lydia  
stabbed outward with her dagger. Sehkmet frantically  
twisted the remainder of her staff about to force the  
dagger to the side. She smirked in victory, though her  
eyes seemed sad, as she met barely any resistance to  
the push and Lydia rolled along with the block.  
  
Then she noticed Lydia dipping low in what wasn't a  
roll but a spin. In the next moment her feet were  
taken out from under her. She rolled back to her feet  
and looked with a considerate frown as she looked over  
her opponent. Lydia's only angry and determined look  
as she gracefully returned to standing was so  
different than the cheerful face she rememebred,  
but...  
  
"You think to directly," Lydia said. "You got to #@^&$  
think outside the @(#@#$ box." ~When did I learn a  
sweep? Zero must have taught it to us sometime.~  
  
Sehkmet almost facefaulted at the use of profanity.  
She looked at Lydia with a massive sweatdrop. The rat  
wasn't at all what she remembered.  
  
"You're a few thousand years too young to beat me so  
easily, mortal," Sehkmet said angrily. "You continue  
to presume to correct a goddess."  
  
"Goddess?" Lydia asked in surprise.   
  
Then Sehkmet was charging forward with a pair of  
golden axes. Lydia blinked and rolled out of the way  
rather than parry. There was no way she was going to  
win in contest of strength with the lion-woman.  
  
~Need to keep her moving,~ Lydia decided. ~She doesn't  
seem to @%#%## change things around so much while  
she's fighting.~   
  
"Keep dodging, mortal," Sehkmet growled angrily.  
"You'll tire, I won't."  
  
Lydia dodged around a little more before lashing out  
again with what were no longer a dagger and a sword  
but a pair of sais. The axes were ripped from Sehkmets  
hands, and then the bars of the sais were slammed into  
her abdomen.  
  
Sehkmet doubled over and then went flying as Lydia  
kicked upward. Sehkmet started to roll in the air to  
hit the wall as Lydia had done, by the time she had  
turned around, however, holes had appeared in her  
wall. Her arms and legs slipped through and she  
slammed full into the wall slipping down to ground  
with a dazed groan.  
  
In an instant Lydia was ontop of her, claws to her  
throat.  
  
"You always forget it's a dream when you get into the  
fight Sehkmet," Lydia said. "You've never managed to  
fix that."   
  
Lydia blinked as the angry, surprised look on  
Sehkmet's face was replaced with one of near disbelief  
and restrained relief and joy. And the woman seemed to  
be familiar somehow, and she was getting more familiar  
as the dream continued.  
  
********  
  
"Is...is she okay?" Yuka asked. Penny glanced to her  
and looked nervous.  
  
"I think so," Penny said. "But with magic...you can  
never tell. But listen to this, and tell me what you  
think. All I can make out from this amulet is that  
it's meant to, quote "to seek and free" and seems to  
be dedicated to some lion-goddess, probably Egyptian  
originally.  
  
"'To seek and free what?" Yuka asked nervously.  
  
"Is there anything to be worried about?" Stripe asked  
as the helicopter settled down.  
  
"Keep an eye on her," Penny said to the kryn. "If she  
wakes up as some sort of blood crazed demon, well  
then, yes, there's something to worry about."  
  
"Huh?" Charlotte said nervously. "B..b..blood crazed  
demon?"  
  
"It's a figure of speech, Charlie," Penny said. ~I  
hope.~  
  
********  
  
"Sister is that you?" Sehkmet asked cautiously.  
  
"My name is Lydia," the rat said confidently. "And I  
ain't your %$&^# sister."  
  
"It is you," Sehkmet said, revealing a radiant smile  
that confused and distracted Lydia for a moment.  
  
Then she was flying through dreamscape and her face  
smashing into the ground as she suddenly realized that  
while her opponent's weaknesses were real, she had  
still been holding back.  
  
"Think about this, Lydia," Sehkmet said. "How was  
Iceron 'killed' the first time?"  
  
"What does that have to do with anything?" Lydia asked  
as again everything was plunged into darkness.  
  
********  
  
"Her eyes stopped glowing," Charlie said. Penny  
nodded and looked to the amulet which was also fading  
back to a seemingly normal piece of jewelry.  
  
"So did her amulet," Penny said. "Whatever was meant  
to happen has happened. All we can do now is get her  
to Gina and deal with it when she wakes up."  
  
"You're deferring to Gina on this?" Ace asked, with a  
sly smirk on his face.  
  
"Give me a break," Penny said. "This is magic, not  
science, Gina has more connections in that field than  
I have hairs on my head. She is hardly my superior in  
the scientific field. It's not like she made the  
world or anything."  
  
********  
  
Akane looked at Ranma cautiously as the revelation  
about him being possessed began to raise a number of  
questions.  
  
"It ain't like I'm in the Neko-ken all the time you  
know," Ranma said nervously in response to Akane's  
look. "I ain't possessed right now."  
  
"And it's not really possession," Dr Diggers said as  
he looked closer. "It's more of a binding."  
  
"Okay, main question," Julia interrupted. "Will it  
affect our capability to deal with whatever is in this  
tower?" When neither Theo nor Ranma answered she  
continued. "Then let's deal with the other thing  
first, and then see about this Neko-Ken."  
  
********  
  
"Are you sure about this?" Sheila asked as they  
tramped through the natural stone caverns. The glow  
of the volcanic cavern was fading behind them as they  
walked.  
  
"Yeah," Brianna said. "It's actually starting to get  
cold down here."  
  
"That's from Ranko," Genn said.   
  
"Huh?" Sheila said, turning around to look at Reiko  
carefully. Her breath was coming out as a mist,  
though it certainly wasn't cold enough for that where  
Sheila was standing.  
  
"I...I didn't th...think I c...could do it without  
th..that gyuseki th...thingie...b..but I can..." Ranko  
said. She laughed, somewhat hysterically. "I wasn't  
even trying."  
  
"Stop a moment here," Brianna said, insistently,  
pulling Ranko over to the side. She almost gasped on  
contact with Ranko's skin. The girl almost seemed to  
be frozen. "Is it still the Neko-Ken?" Brianna  
glanced up at Genn, who nodded, before looking back to  
Ranko. Sheila kept a watch on the corridors.  
  
"Y..yes," Ranko said. "It won't go  
away...it..it...she keeps saying the same thing!   
S...she...won't stop...'that way' 'l...let me in'  
'prey is that way'...meowing, hissing...meowing..."  
  
"Come on," Brianna said. "You're a tough girl."  
  
"No, I'm not," Ranko said, shaking her head.  
  
"You seem to be handling things fine," Sheila said.  
"Just a little stuttering." Sheila thought that if  
her worst fear had taken up residence in her head and  
kept talking to her she would be a basket case.  
  
"Anything near, Genn," Sheila asked, moving near the  
rakshasha.  
  
"No," he said. Then she nodded and leaned in.  
  
"Can't you do something about this problem?" she asked  
quietly.  
  
"There's something else in her," Genn answered. "I  
felt it, and I'm not sure what it is. AND she has  
psychic scars too."  
  
"So you're just going to leave it there?" Sheila  
asked.  
  
"I wouldn't where to begin," Genn answered  
exasperatedly. "It'd be like trying to do surgery on  
the guidance of a random die roll!"  
  
"The Soul a Ice don't g..g..get rid of stuff," Ranko  
said, answering Sheila's original question without  
noticing the conversation between her and Genn. "It  
just lets ya...ig...ignore it. I...didn't th...think  
about the b...Breath of Ice..."  
  
"Is there a problem with the Breath of Ice?" Brianna  
asked, concerned.  
  
"I...it takes a lot..." Ranko said, eyes looking  
somewhat faint though Brianna had to look closely to  
see it. "Even with the staff...e..even f..for Ranma.   
I...I'm getting tired."  
  
"Then stop doing it," Brianna said, it really had to  
be tiring for it to be affecting her even with  
regeneration to consider. Though Brianna worried  
about the "even for Ranma" comment.  
  
"Wh..what if the S...soul of Ice goes too," Ranko  
asked. "It...it's like s..someone banging on the door  
right now..." She clutched at her head and closed her  
eyes. "She wants inside."  
  
~Damn it," Brianna thought. ~Whatever you are, back  
off and give her some breathing space. You're just  
going to get both of you killed this way.~  
  
Of course it wasn't that simple, and Brianna knew  
that.  
  
"If this ice breath thing is making you tired, you've  
got to shut it down," Brianna said.  
  
"But..." Ranko said.  
  
"The Neko-ken thing is talking to you right?" Brianna  
said. "Talk to it, make a deal."  
  
"And offer it what?" Ranko asked angrily. "My eyes on  
a nice juicy platter?"  
  
"Did it try to kill you before?" Brianna asked.  
  
"No," Ranko admitted reluctantly.  
  
"It killed the demon thing right?" Brianna asked.   
Ranko nodded. "Then it saved you right?" Ranko  
nodded again, slowly.  
  
"I'll...try," Ranko said.  
  
"Okay," Sheila muttered. "Next time I pay the extra  
ten gold for the longer duration. I don't see or  
smell anything coming, what's happening with her?"  
  
"I don't really know," Brianna said to Sheila as Ranko  
sat down and seemed to meditate. "Something like when  
you hit me on the head that one time."  
  
"Ehh?" Sheila said nervously glancing at Ranko.   
Brianna blinked and looked down at the concentratiing  
Ranko.  
  
"It has to do with her fear of cats," Brianna said.   
"Something her father did to her and Ranma when they  
were kids." It was sort of true, as far as it went.  
  
"Not your place to say?" Sheila asked. "Any chance  
it's dangerous to us?"  
  
"Don't think so," Brianna said...after a pause. She  
picked her gun back up and set a watch on her end of  
the corridor while Ranko apparently lost all contact  
with them. A fact emphasized by the sweat that seemed  
to be freezing to her face.  
  
********  
  
It was easy to drop within her mind. The continual  
demands of the neko-ken acted as a beacon that made it  
easy to follow, even as she was terrified to do so.  
  
"Sss..stop it!" Ranko shouted past the frozen shell of  
ice surrounding her conscious mind.  
  
"Let me in!" the feline voice demanded. Ranko could  
see it's shape but not the awful details she  
remembered when it killed the demon.  
  
"Leave me alone," Ranko said. "I have to go to a  
fight and I can't do that with you..."  
  
"But you don't want to fight," the cat noted. Ranko  
was silent. "Let me in, and I'll fight for you...I'll  
kill for you."  
  
"No!" Ranko shouted, her heart skipping a beat as she  
saw her carefully constructed shell shiver with the  
force of the yell.  
  
"You're get tired," the Neko-Ken said. "Why fight me,  
I just want to help you."  
  
"You want to eat me!!!" Ranko countered.  
  
"I am bound to you," it said hissingly. "You die, I  
die. My existence is tied to yours."  
  
"And if you die?" Ranko asked nervously, following the  
vague form of the neko-ken through the sheet of glass,  
thinning as she grew more tired and control became  
difficult. The cat hesitated and seemed uncertain for  
a moment.  
  
"Do you want to try to kill me girl?" it asked  
finally. "Why? I've always protected you. I can  
remember...faintly...the old woman, the shark, your  
father...that pervert that seeks to mate with you...I  
have always...." The neko-ken stopped as Ranko started  
laughing and dropped to the dark ground of her  
mindscape.  
  
********  
  
"She's laughing," Sheila said, adjusting her frame of  
vision to include Ranko. "Is that a good sign or bad  
one?"  
  
"Listen for purring," Brianna said. "Or meowing...and  
then run. I saw her and Ranma fighting in that state  
earlier...we don't have what we need to fight her  
here. Not without killing her anyway." Sheila looked  
to Genn.  
  
"She's not having the break down we're worried about,"  
Genn said vaguely.  
  
********  
  
"Your sister is this way," Ranma's neko-ken said. He  
added something as it felt the tremor through Ranma's  
soul. "I'm not trying to scare you."  
  
********  
  
"Ranko's that way," Ranma said impatiently, then  
winced as the neko-ken spoke again. "I can smell her,  
an the others." He hadn't needed the information from  
the neko-ken anyway.  
  
"So can I Ranma," Akane said, eyes narrowed. "So can  
your mother, and I think Diggers-san found some  
tracks, and as for Diggers-sensei..." she turned to  
look at the white-haired man concentrating hard.  
  
"Get ready," Dr. Diggers said. "They've been  
noticed."  
  
********  
  
"Just a copy," Ranko whispered. "Just a copy neko-ken  
for a copy Ranma." The neko-ken paused to consider  
that.  
  
"You're brother is near," it said finally, not  
understanding the comment, and defaulting to the  
nearest comment it could consider as likely. "I feel  
the other raiju. Unless there's more fools who would  
subject people to that accursed and flawed ritual."  
  
"Ranma is here?" Ranko said, looking up, and blinking,  
missing everything else.  
  
"Let me fight," the neko-ken demanded, returning to  
the original line of thought. "I thought you could  
handle it, but you're distracted, and now you won't  
let me in as easily as you used to."  
  
"You can't have my body," Ranko said.  
  
"I don't see any other option unless you can create  
one for me," she said. Ranko blinked for a moment.  
  
"I could do that," Ranko said.   
  
"Excuse me?" the neko-ken said.  
  
"I think, I can," Ranko added. She wasn't really  
sure, but if it got the thing to leave her alone,  
she'd try. She was always of the habit of thinking  
through theory more than Ranma, mostly because she was  
always lax in physical training and had to make for  
it, on the fly, in finesse. Not that Ranma wasn't  
especially accomplished in that skill, she just tended  
to make more of a habit out of it.  
  
"This I have to see," the neko-ken's shape stopped  
pacing around her shell and settled down to watch her,  
making Ranko rather nervous.  
  
~Let me think this through,~ Ranko thought. ~Chi is  
life-force an' I can sorta put it out, right, but it  
dissipates real quick cause I stop focusing on it an'  
it gets harder to keep it up the further out it is.   
But if...if....SHE goes with it...then she can can  
keep it up...an'....it'll still be part a me  
though...I'll...I'll feeel her all the time....but  
maybe she'll leave me alone an not talk to me...at  
least she REALLY can't kill me without killin' herself  
then though...no lie...its my chi after all.~  
  
"Get ready to go," Ranko said hesitantly.   
  
"A real body after all this time," the neko-ken said.   
Ranko could almost see the grin.  
  
********  
  
"Is it just me or did it just get hot?" Sheila asked.   
They looked to Ranko.  
  
Sheila and Brianna flinched as Ranko's hands came  
together and a soft white ball of radiance appeared in  
her hands. Then Ranko pushed it away from her quickly  
and snapped her eyes open, backpedalling from the ball  
of light as it took shape. Into a small, blue cat.  
  
"Oh, how cute," Sheila said.  
  
"This is a slightly small body," the cat said in  
Japanese.  
  
"What did it say?" she asked.  
  
"Small body," Brianna said, a little hesitant.  
  
"I said I'd getcha a body," Ranko said, plastered  
against the wall. "Didn't say how big. Now could you  
just...go over there where I can't see you...or  
somethin?"  
  
"Most familiars are small," Sheila said. "Though I  
get the feeling that this isn't quite a normal  
familiar."  
  
"Familiar?" Brianna said. "Huh, well....maybe that  
works."  
  
"GET DOWN!!!" Ranma shouted from further back in the  
tunnel. the three girls glanced toward him in time to  
see him fire a blast of chi there way. All of the  
them ducked, the blast rolling under them to collide  
with a stream of fire that had seemingly come from  
nowhere.  
  
"Stay down!" Ranko shouted as she realized, from the  
suddenly blast of cold air, what sort of chi Ranma had  
used.   
  
Sheila, not understanding Ranko's instructions tried  
to stand up after the energy had passed them,  
expecting to get into stance and ready for the fight  
before the explosion died down.  
  
He had jumped right to the technique he'd killed  
Saffron with. As the cold chi hit the fire, the hiryu  
shoten ha was made and the small, spear shaped tornado  
ripped down the corridor. The backlash threw Sheila  
backward toward the coming reinforcements.  
  
Three demonic forms of rock and smoke crumbled to dust  
as the tornado pierced them. Several others lost  
limbs or had their artificial bodies cracked as the  
tornado clipped them. Invisibly demonic spirits  
rushed down the corridor seeking the pools of magma  
further ahead to form a new body from. They found Dr.  
Diggers waiting for them.  
  
The shock of the released souls slowed down the demons  
enough for Akane, Sheila and Nodoka to recover from  
the jagwere's impromptu flight. Brianna and Ranko,  
meanwhile stood up as Julia Diggers past them in a  
blur, Ranma not far behind her. The little blue cat  
was no where in sight.  
  
"Where did...?" Ranko started, then felt around for  
her chi.   
  
There, she felt it. The thing had RIDDEN Ranma's  
hiryu shoten ha further back into the cavern.   
  
It had hurt.   
  
Ranko smiled.  
  
~Wait a minute,~ Ranko thought. ~What is that?~ She  
got a feeling of something, important being in the  
area. And reluctantly, squinting her eyes closed,  
concentrated on that small piece of her chi.  
  
"DIE DIE!!!!" Brianna shouted next to her, laughing  
manically and fire burst after burst from her gun.  
  
It was a comparatively pleasant counterpoint to the  
feline noises going on in her head.  
  
********  
  
The neko-ken muttered irritably as it shook it's head  
out. That girl was actually pleased that this little  
plan turned out to be rather painful. She staggered  
around for a few moments, shaking her head clear.  
  
~Wait a minute,~ the girl thought. ~What is that?~   
The cat hissed irritably and momentarily ignored the  
question, looking around for prey. It's body was  
small, but it was still a powerful spirit with  
centuries of experience. Even with the limited energy  
it had it could be dangerous.  
  
The impulse to look back at whatever sensory blip had  
caught her impromptu mistress's attention became a  
little stronger. She really should have considered  
the ramifications of letting the girl form a body for  
her out of personal chi.  
  
Of course after so long without a body, most of that  
spent as a rather instinctual beast that just wanted  
to fight, play, eat, or sleep. Thank goodness it was  
now had it's mind so it could attend to higher  
concerns.  
  
Now where were those demons so she could have a good  
fun fight. Then she could lounge in the sun or hunt  
for the rest of the day. All of which are much higher  
concerns than mere fighting, playing, eating and  
sleeping.  
  
Oh yeah, the girl wanted her to look over at that  
group of people in robes around the fire again.  
  
She looked in that direction just as the three rings  
of released souls flashed through the cavern. She  
recognized that for what it was. When the demon had  
touched the shared soul space it had held with Ranko,  
she had still been that insane mockery of herself.   
Then she had killed the demon and apparently in the  
backlash of released spiritual energy had awakened  
herself.  
  
The fact that she was now in a small outcropping of  
some mortal girl's energy made it questionable as to  
whether the situation was good or not.  
  
She pondered the question over why the girl was  
interested in a bunch of undead gathered around a  
fire. Then she shook her head out one last time and  
realized the fire was a gate.  
  
The nearest thing possible to a vicious smile for a  
cat crossed the ejected neko-ken's face.  
  
********  
  
"Ranko!" Genn shouted next to her.   
  
Ranko broke her concentration to glance toward the  
sound and found herself bowled over by something else  
moments before a clawed arm of stone and fire swiped  
through her former position.  
  
"Are you okay?" Ranma asked as he picked her up. "Ya  
look kinda spaced out."  
  
"I'm fine," Ranko said shaking him off and getting to  
her own feet. "I know where the gate is!" She  
shouted.  
  
"What gat...hey!" Ranma shouted as Ranko ran off down  
the corridor, taking advantage of a brief gap in the  
demon's forces.  
  
"Don't go off on your own!" Nodoka shouted.  
  
"Where is she going?" Brianna demanded sharply at  
nearly the same time. The three geared up to follow  
her, but found the way suddenly closed shut behind  
her. As if the stone had temporarily melted.  
  
"Damn it!!" Ranma shouted as he approached the now  
far to small hole, which soldified as a small shaft  
that allowed them to hear what was going on in the  
next part of the cavern. Several rings of releashed  
souls showed that Dr. Diggers was dealing with the  
last batch of demons they whose bodies they had  
destroyed.  
  
"Akane-chan!" Nodoka said. "You're the only one that  
can get through that hole in a timely fashion." Ranma  
turned around to look at Nodoka and Akane, looking  
torn.  
  
"What me?" Akane said, glancing at the narrow hole and  
back to Nodoka as if she were crazy. "You've got to  
be kidding."  
  
"No, she's right," Julia said. "You're a wererat now  
in case you forgot, you have two other forms besides  
this hybrid one you've been wearing."  
  
"None of their spirits escaped me," Dr Diggers said,  
coming into the cavern. He immediately noticed they  
were lacking one were-cheetah, and the nearly closed  
tunnel that hadn't been there when he'd done his  
clairvoyant search earlier.  
  
"Why can't he just open the tunnel?" Ranma asked. "Or  
teleport us?" Dr. Diggers took a moment to  
concentrate.  
  
"It's warded against teleportation," he said. "And  
opening magically created rock will take some time."   
Akane sighed.  
  
"Does anybody here know somebody that goes by the name  
'Rook'?" Genn asked nervously as he stood at the wall.  
  
"Rook," the Diggers and Sheila said together.  
  
"So how do I change into a rat?" she asked, with a  
glance towards Ranma. The male werecheetah looked on  
the verge of a nervous explosion.  
  
********  
  
Ranko skidded to a stop and turned back to see the  
corridor behind her shutting closed.  
  
"Another werecheetah," a dry voice said. "How  
unlikey, and yet appropriate." Ranko turned to see an  
armored form wielding a pair of swords staring at her  
from behind a group of translucent men and women with  
empty eyes in white robes. Her nose wrinkled as she  
caught a whiff of the room. Everything in here with  
the exception of her and the.....n...neko-k..ken were  
dead.  
  
"Y...yeah," Ranko said, noticing that cat sneaking up  
toward the figures around the fire. "Wh..whatever,  
just get ready to get yer asses kicked."  
  
"I think not," the armored figure said. "Take her,  
and make it noisy so her friends can listen." The  
translucent figures glided toward her.  
  
Ranko smirked and punched out at one of the robed men,  
only to have her fist pass through it. A circle kick  
met the same results in passing through another two of  
her attackers.  
  
~Great,~ Ranko thought. The figures clumisly reached  
out to grab her, but she stepped back and away from  
them, growling as she saw the armored figure walk to  
where the tunnel had been.  
  
********  
  
"Sheila of the Edge Guard," a dry voice said further  
down the tunnel. "And young Miss Diggers."  
  
~That must be the 'Rook' character they had told me  
about,~ Akane thought, reviewing what they had said  
about his armor and tactics. A crashing sound behind  
her spurred her along. Sure Dr. Diggers had said he'd  
watch her and make sure she was far enough away before  
they started demolitions, but still.  
  
"I wouldn't bother with that," Rook laughed. "By the  
time you can get through she'll be dead...or perhaps  
undead...a werecat specter to do my bidding."  
  
"We'll see about that, jerk," Akane said, her voice  
coming out as a small squeak. Further back she had a  
call of "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken" and knew that  
Ranma had heard and gotten angry as well.  
  
********  
  
If that c...c...cat wanted to protect her, where was  
it now. Ranko glanced around as she continued to  
dodge mindless, groping hands from the specters.   
  
Her question was answered a flash of blue leaped past  
and slashed at one of the specters. Great ripping  
tears opened in the translucent image before the  
specter seemed to be blown away, as if it had been  
nothing but a pile of leaves seemlessly joined. Ranko  
swore that a look of peace crossed the things face  
before it vanished completely  
  
"NO!" Ranko snapped. "Don't kil..."  
  
"But they're already dead," the Neko-ken retorted.  
  
"They are?" Ranko asked, then smacked herself in the  
head, backing away again. That armored jerk was still  
just watching. "Duh, ghosts." And the thing  
certainly had seem peaceful before leaving...she just  
wished she had another way to do this.  
  
Another of the five ghosts was torn to pieces by the  
little blue cat, which was emitting an impressive  
amount of energy for something it's size. Especially  
since Ranko was sure that she hadn't given it that  
much.  
  
"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Ranko shouted, she kept  
the speed lower than normal however, hoping to  
disguise her true capabilities from the knight.   
Still, combining even a minimal Kachuu Tenshin  
Amaguriken with her cheetah speed was phenomanal and  
the chi charged attacks ripped through the remaining  
specters.  
  
A low applauding greeted her display.  
  
"It seems that I shall have to take care of you  
myself," Rook said, drawing forth his swords and  
moving in to attack.  
  
"You're dead too, aintcha?" Ranko asked irritably.  
  
"Doesn't really matter," Rook said. "You'll not  
defeat me anyway."  
  
"We'll see about that," Ranko said. ~I'm going to get  
this one on my own. No help! Just me! I can do just  
as well as Ranma can.~ She launched forward into a  
charge, a loud boom rocking the chamber and blowing  
over the fire gate as she crossed the sound barrier.   
And all it would take her was one attack.  
  
"KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!!!" She shouted and  
snapped an energy shrouded fist forward at the chi  
created speeds. She felt four impacts in the first  
instant of contact and then her target was gone in a  
puff of smoke. She blinked, confused. "That's it?"   
  
She had just about put every remaining once of chi  
into that Amaguriken and it only took four hits. What  
if he hadn't been dead before, had she just killed  
someone? Was she that shallow, that the first chance  
she had to compare herself to Ranma that she ignored  
her earlier decisions?  
  
Then again it had always been like that. She never  
did more than cursory training, unless there was a  
fight brewing that she had to take care of. She spent  
all her time scamming ice cream. The only time she  
got serious into the Art was when she had to or  
someone suggested she was weaker than Ranma. Or  
rather, remembering that her memories were artificial,  
the only time Ranma trained his girl side was when he  
had to.  
  
"Look out, girl!" her cat hissed, promoting a wince,  
but Ranko did turn in time to see a flash of metal  
descend towards her. She raised her arm to catch the  
blade on the flat and deflect it aside.  
  
"AAAIEEEE!!!" Ranko shrieked as her flesh connected  
with the silvered sword. She only barely dodged aside  
from the other strike, clutching her burned hand.  
  
"That was impressive speed, child," Rook said  
advancing on her as she backed away. "You actually  
beat the teleportation. Four times, I wonder how many  
hits I would have taken had I remained where I was  
standing."  
  
"Teleportation?" Ranko repeated. She stepped forward  
and snapped a short kick at Rook, blinking as the  
specter vanished into dust before the unenhanced kick  
could reach him. Almost instantly she felt him  
reappearing behind and struck out again with a mule  
kick.  
  
She glanced back as she did so and noted, with dismay,  
that the armored jerk vanished into smoke again as she  
kicked out. A flash of motion above her alerted her  
to where the monster was appearing.  
  
In mid air, right over her horizontal back.  
  
Ranko leaped up off the one leg connected on the  
ground and rolled past the descending Rook. Seeing  
the neko-ken launch itself forward in a small blue  
ball of fury confirmed her suspicion as Rook  
teleported immediately behind the cat to avoid the  
strike.  
  
What she needed was an attack to cover a radius around  
her. Unfortunately she had blown all her remaining  
chi and was even now just operating on fumes.  
  
Ranko landed shakily and examined the silver burn on  
her arm again. That arm wasn't going to be much use  
in the battle. She glanced up seeing her "familiar"  
as Sheila had called the damn neko-ken, sent flying  
against a wall before hitting the ground, momentarily  
stunned. The sight brought a small smile to Ranko's  
face, even as she stepped away from the cat.  
  
The armored figure advanced on her, she swore it was  
smiling under that helmet, as she tried to catch her  
breath. Ranko took a shaky stance, feeling some of  
her chi return courtesy of her capability to  
regenerate.  
  
"At least I closed the gate," Ranko said.  
  
"It can be reopened," Rook assured her.   
  
He slashed forward with one sword and another, forcing  
Ranko to dodge back while she was considering a way to  
beat that telepotation of his. She had to find a way  
to get him without him knowing she was striking, that  
was the only way. Then he wouldn't know to teleport.  
  
Her back hit the wall and immediately Rook rolled  
around to her side, giving her a shot to the middle of  
the room.  
  
"Almost had me cornered there," Ranko said. "Maybe  
you're not as good as I think." She smirked. Rook  
did not answer, having learned much earlier that walls  
where dangerous things for him to fight near.  
  
"Ranko!" Akane shouted, from inside the cavern. The  
armored creature stopped and turned to face the sound.  
  
"How surprising," he said, looking over The newly  
appeared wererat. "How did you get in here?" The  
sound of digging magic and warriors could be heard  
getting closer, but the tunnel was still solid on this  
end.  
  
~Thank you, Akane,~ Ranko said, launching an attack  
forward at the distracted Rook.   
  
Of course, Ranko had made the same mistake Julia had  
in her first confrontation with Rook. It wasn't Rook  
doing the teleporting...it was the armor. Rook  
vanished before Ranko's fist could get there.  
  
"Ranko duck!" Akane shouted, running forward. Ranko  
didn't need to be told twice as she rolled forward,  
the cleaving slash becoming only a painful burning  
across her back. "You monster!!"   
  
"Don't think that you can beat me, little rat," Rook  
said. "I can already tell you're not as skilled  
as...." Rook was cut short as Akane leaped into a  
jump kick, back to the ground. Rook had a fraction of  
a second to realize what was happening before he was  
stuck in solid rock....again.  
  
"Ranko are you okay?" Akane asked rushing to the side  
of her the werecheetah. Ranko sat up, trying to  
ignore the burning sensations on her back and arm.   
She looked from Akane to where Rook was stuck in the  
ground, hands and feet sticking out comically.  
  
"You rescued me," Ranko said hollowly.  
  
"Of course I did," Akane snapped in her usual annoyed  
voice. "Why did you do something as stupid as run off  
by yourself....anyway?" Akane's concerned anger faded  
as Ranko's eyes began to grow misty.  
  
"YOU rescued ME," Ranko repeated, before the fatigue,  
stress and humiliation finally cracked her Soul of Ice  
and she broke out into a gale of weeping.  
  
"Oh," Akane said, reaching forward to hug the girl.   
"You'd have beaten him eventually." She assured  
Ranko, not sure whether the girl was hearing her or  
not.  
  
The final sound of the others breaking through the  
rock echoed through the final cavern as Akane held  
Ranko in what she hoped was a comforting hug, avoiding  
the nasty looking burns on her back and arm as much as  
she could.  
  
"Is she okay?" Ranma demanded as he came in. "Are you  
okay?!"   
  
"OH!" Nodoka said coming over and seeiing the burns.   
"These will have to be treated!"  
  
"Missed all the fun," Brianna muttered to herself.   
She glanced over to Ranko and her family comforting  
her, hoping it was a comfort and not a humiliation and  
then walked with Sheila and her mother to where Rook  
was trapped in stone.  
  
"This time why don't we cut him out and lock him in a  
vault or something?" Sheila asked.  
  
"A heavily warded vault," Julia agreed.  
  
"With a Diggers anti-magic field set up around the  
stone," Brianna finished.  
  
"This time he's NOT coming back," Sheila finished.  
  
Meanwhile the small, blue, as yet unnamed cat, unless  
one considers "Neko-Ken" a name, finally sat up and  
shook it's head clear. It was a spirit of thunder and  
lightning, but really, there was such a thing as too  
much of a good thing. Besides the thunder and  
lightning in it's eyes and ears at the moment was more  
of a concussion thing.  
  
"Oh, that was fun," she said. "But wait until I learn  
this little body some more."  
  
********  
  
Things were much quieter later in the day, when they'd  
returned to the inn.  
  
"She put the neko-ken into a seperate body without  
using the familiar ritual," Dr. Diggers said.   
"Without even knowing the ritual. That is  
impressive." Julia nodded.  
  
"You're thinking of asking her or Ranma to see if  
they're interested in learning magic?" Julia asked.   
The mage looked to her and she smiled. "You can't  
resist a talented student any more than I can."  
  
"I highly doubt that Ranma would like to study more  
magic than it would take to duplicate his sister's  
act," Theo said. "I assume Ranko would be along the  
lines of her brother as well."  
  
"That would be a bad assumption to make Theo," Julia  
said. "Think about Brianna." The mage nodded.  
  
"I'll suggest it," he said. "We'll see what she  
thinks. After we talk to her mother."  
  
********  
  
Ranko looked down at her arm, Dr. Diggers had healed  
it, but she could still remember the feel of her soul  
being charred where the silver had touched it. That  
wasn't what bothered her though. Akane, Ranma and her  
mother had stayed with her in the room for an hour  
before she asked them to leave her alone. They had  
only left reluctantly.  
  
They were worried about her, it was touching. But it  
was humiliating.  
  
And the Neko-ken was still hanging around her to.   
Every time it came close she started getting the  
shivers. At the moment she thought it was basking in  
the sun far away from her. She could feel warmth  
spreading evenly over that piece of her chi.  
  
"Want to talk about it?" someone asked from the door.   
Ranko turned morosely and saw Brianna standing there.  
  
"No," Ranko said.  
  
"Too bad," Brianna said. "Because you're going to."   
  
  
Brianna walked over and sat down next to Ranko. Ranko  
blinked as she first realized just how large she was  
in her hybrid form, even Brianna, who would dwarf her  
human form, looked rather small next to her.  
  
"What's to talk about?" Ranko asked. "All I was  
useful for was getting my ass kicked and shaking like  
a scaredy.....dog."  
  
"YOU found the gate," Brianna reminded her. "YOU took  
it out of commission. I'd say that you weren't  
exactly useless."  
  
"AKANE had to rescue me," Ranko said. "She ain't  
bad...but...usually its me doin' the rescuing...or  
Ranma anyway."  
  
"Yeah, well we told her what to do before she went  
into the room," Brianna said. "That idiot Rook  
depends on that one trick way too much."  
  
"That one trick almost killed me," Ranko said. "And  
to think, if I had done just a single jab when I'd hit  
that wall..."  
  
"Yeah," Brianna said. "That's how Mom finally beat  
him, he had her fooled to, almost killed her...thenl  
he TOLD her how his armor works." She rolled her eyes  
at the idiocy of that. "I guess he learned his lessen  
about bragging from that."  
  
"He almost beat your mother?" Ranko said, somewhat  
surprised and impressed.  
  
"Yeah," Brianna said. "But it's because of that one  
trick of his, and now we all know how to beat him."  
  
"Ranma would have beat him," Ranko said. "He's better  
than me."  
  
"Don't try to compare yourself to him," Brianna said.   
"You'll always be in his shadow then. You remember  
what I told you about Grave Digger?"  
  
"That was before I existed," Ranko reminded her,  
without denying that she remembered.  
  
"Yeah," Brianna said. "Well anyway, the same thing  
applies here I think. You think I could beat Brit in  
a fight?" Ranko considered this and shook her head  
slowly.   
  
"No," she said hesitantly.  
  
"And do you think I could out research Gina?" At this  
Ranko held just a blank expression, both of the  
Diggers genuises were so far beyond her in technical  
knowledge that she could hardly tell their levels  
apart. "Well it depends. With my inventions, I'm  
probably an even match for Brit, maybe more so, Brit  
doesn't do much serious training. And next to Gina,  
for pure raw intellect and talent, she's head and  
shoulders above me, but I find things she misses all  
the time. She makes things too complicated for  
herself. And when you put me all together I'm  
probably the top military mind of the Diggers set. I  
do my own thing, I don't try to do my sisters'  
things."  
  
"All I know is martial arts," Ranko said. "All I know  
is what HE'S been taught."  
  
"Are you interested in martial arts?" Brianna asked,  
remembering her half-muttered comment before the shit  
had started hitting the fan earlier.  
  
"Not really," Ranko answered after a long pause.   
"But...what else?"  
  
"I'm sure you'll find something," Brianna said  
comfortingly. "Hey, most kids your age don't know  
what they're going to do."  
  
"Most kids my age are still in the hospital," Ranko  
muttered darkly.  
  
"Yeah," Brianna said. "And most my age have yet to  
hit kindergarten, so anyway...I got to go meet the  
other girls. We're going shopping with the bounty  
money for Rook if you want to come."  
  
"Maybe," Ranko said.  
  
"We'll wait downstairs for a little while," Brianna  
said. "Don't mope it'll make you feel worse."  
  
********  
  
"...and then he asks me 'if that wasn't sex what was  
it,'" Akane said.  
  
"No," Sheila said. "He's that clueless?"  
  
"He's that clueless," Genn agreed as Akane nodded.  
  
"All this time I've been calling him a pervert," Akane  
said, rolling her eyes. "And he doesn't even know  
what it is."  
  
"Did I miss anything?" Brianna asked as she came to  
join them.  
  
"Just some girl talk," Sheila said. She gestured to  
Ranma surreptitiously, where the werecheetah was  
sitting in the corner watching them nervously.   
"Apparently Akane fell asleep on top of him and he  
thought that was sex."  
  
"REALLY?" Brianna said. "No way!"  
  
"Yep," Akane said. "That's what happened." Brianna  
glanced over at Ranma, whose face was turning red as  
he realized that they were talking about him.  
  
"Wow," Brianna said. "Lucky girl, you get to break  
him in to all the wonderful little secrets of...life  
without anybody screwing it up before hand."  
  
"Errr...I guess," Akane said. Genn leaned over and  
whispered.  
  
"By reports you're not interested in Ranma," Brianna  
said knowingly.  
  
"I'm not!" Akane said, flustered, turning bright red  
and glancing around nervously. "Wait a minute, by  
what reports?"  
  
"That samurai, and the chef," Brianna said smiling.  
  
"Kuno!?" Akane blinked. "He's insane. And Ukyou  
can't stand to admit that the only thing Ranma sees in  
her is a brother or sister."  
  
"But you're not interested," Sheila said. "And you're  
talking about his cluelessness with sex." Akane  
looked around like a caged rat, appropriately enough  
and then relented.  
  
"Fine," Akane said. "I like him. There happy?"  
  
"Almost," Brianna said leaning forward. "So, how does  
he make you feel?"  
  
"I don't know," Akane said, twiddling her fingers  
somewhat. "I feel...safe around him and well, in  
danger at the same time. And now..."  
  
"Now?" the other three said simultaneously. They all  
leaned forward.  
  
"I keep having these fantasies about tall grass and  
running," Akane said. "From something that wants to  
devour me...and I WANT to get caught."  
  
"Mmmm," Brianna said eyes glazing a little.  
  
"Must be the whole predator-prey thing," Sheila said.   
"I wonder how it would feel to date something that  
would instinctually hunt you."  
  
"Hmmph," Akane said. "Ranma only does the hunting in  
the fantasies, I have to do it in real life. He  
freaks if you flirt with him." She immediately  
blushed at that admission.  
  
"Well, that's just the proper way to do it," Sheila  
said. "As long as they believe that THEY'RE the ones  
doing the hunting anyway."  
  
"Devour me...heh...heh..."  
  
All eyes turned slowly toward Brianna.  
  
"Brianna is a little...." Genn started, leaning over  
to whisper to Akane.  
  
"Sex-crazed," Sheila finished.  
  
"I am not sex-crazed," Brianna said. "I just LIKE it  
that's all."  
  
"If you were male you'd look surprisingly like Tirga,"  
Sheila said.  
  
"Hey," Brianna said. "I'm not a two-timing  
arm-dragger like him. What do you see in him anyway,  
Sheila?"  
  
"Tirga is the pervert that hit on me in my room  
right?" Akane asked. "The tiger guy."  
  
"That's him," Sheila said dryly, eyes narrowed.  
  
"What DO you see in him?" Akane asked.  
  
"Other than the obvious, of course," Brianna said,  
licking her lips. "If you weren't set on him I'd give  
him a quick try."  
  
"That two-timing, arm-dragger?" Genn repeated.  
  
"Hey, he's a good looking two-timing arm-dragger,"  
Brianna said. "Besides being used and abandoned might  
be good for him. What goes around comes around you  
know."  
  
"You are bizarre," Akane said, arching her eyebrows.  
  
"You don't know the half of it," Genn muttered.  
  
"Tirga has his good points," Sheila said finally.   
"He's a creditable member of the Edge Guard."  
  
"Okay," Brianna said. "Outside his reported skill in  
the sack, that body, and his ability in a fight, what  
are his good points?"  
  
"Actually," Sheila said. "He's the only one that  
reports his skill in the sack."  
  
"Wait a minute, didn't you and he have a fling or  
something?' Brianna asked. "Wouldn't you know?"  
  
"That was Genn actually," Sheila said, gesturing to  
the Rakshasha. Akane looked from the Rakshasha to  
Sheila and looked confused until she remembered that  
the little creature was a shapechanger.  
  
"Oh," Akane said. "Replacement pervert."  
  
"I am not a pervert," Genn protested.  
  
"You slept with Kodachi," Akane said.  
  
"And paid for it greatly," Genn muttered.  
  
"With Kodachi, you haven't even begun to pay for it,"  
Akane said.  
  
"Great," Genn said.  
  
"Who's Kodachi?" Sheila asked.  
  
"Someone from Akane's home town," Brianna said. "Some  
rich girl with a strange laugh and a thing for whips."  
  
"Oooo," Sheila said. "Lucky boy, Genn." The  
Rakshasha twitched.  
  
"Hey," Brianna said. "Isn't that Gar over there?"  
  
"Oh yeah," Sheila said, standing up and waving.   
"Thropan and Onoli too." The three were-cats noticed  
Sheila waving and started over.  
  
"I guess the girl-talk is over for now," Brianna said.  
Then she noticed Ranko coming down the stairs, and  
sighed in relief. At least for a moment  
  
"Oh, is Ranko coming with us?" Akane asked, noticing  
the girl as well. Then it happened.  
  
"Uh oh," Sheila and Genn added.  
  
********  
  
Ranko grumbled to herself as she came down the stairs  
and started to work her way through the crowd toward  
where Sheila was waving. The jagwere must of just  
caught a flash of her or something, because she was  
looking in the wrong way. Whatever, at least she knew  
where to go to meet them in this restaurant-inn  
thingie.  
  
She was about half way there when she felt some one  
slam into her from behind and to the side. She would  
have fallen right then if whoever had bumped her had  
not grabbed her and pulled her up.  
  
"Oh sorry about that," a voice said behind her. "I  
didn't see you..." The voice trailed off for a moment  
while Ranko looked down to where her "rescuer's" hands  
were placed. "Something wrong?"  
  
"Gar," another voice said, hesitantly. "Hands."  
  
"What about...wait a minute," Gar made the mistake of  
experimentally squeezing, which had the effect of  
snapping Ranko out of her shock.  
  
********  
  
"Is it fair to suggest," Brianna asked. "That if  
Ranma is as clueless and intimidated by sex as you  
say, then Ranko...."  
  
********  
  
"PERVERT!!!!" Ranko shouted flipping around and almost  
faltering when she saw the werecat. The punch did not  
land with as much force as it would have as a result.   
Therefore, Gar only flew back fifteen feet. As Gar  
flew, so did Ranko, in a manner of speaking.  
  
********  
  
"Yep," Sheila said, wincing as her brother landed.   
"It's fair to assume."  
  
"Th....th...that...c...c..cat groped me!!" Ranko  
gasped, virtually appearing behind Akane.  
  
"That's my brother, Gar," Sheila said.  
  
"He's a pervert!" Ranko snapped.  
  
"That's a pervert," Sheila said, pointing toward  
Brianna.  
  
"Hey!" Bri protested.  
  
"Gar's just male," Sheila said.  
  
"Yeah," Ranko said. "A pervert. Right?'  
  
"Right," Akane added. Both Nerimans nodded in eerie  
unison. "Except for Ryouga anyway." Ranko twitched.   
Then a were-lion approached their table, and he stood  
taller than all of them.  
  
"We apologize for that incident," the lion said. "Gar  
did not mean to...do that. He was just trying to save  
her from the fall."  
  
"Yeah, Onoli, we saw the whole thing," Sheila said.   
"Including the last little squeeze."  
  
"Errr," Onoli said nervously. As Thropan guided a  
dizzy Gar to the women's table. Tirga, in human form,  
appeared next to Onoli then and started putting his  
two cents in.  
  
"Well, can you blame him?" Tirga asked. "I mean she  
is one hot little lady, almost as tall as Britanny,  
slimmer build with just a trace of red in her fur.   
Hot, man!"  
  
"Could you all go away please?" Ranko asked, still  
hiding behind Akane.   
  
Akane would protect her. Akane was She Who Shooed  
Away Cats. She always had been. The fact that she  
had been in a deep depression because Akane had  
rescued her earlier did not register...after  
all...these were CATS.  
  
"Why are you in human form?" Thropan asked Tirga as  
they reached the table.  
  
"Because she's afraid of cats," Tirga answered  
pointing to the werecheetah crouching behind the  
wererat. "So if I'm gonna get in tight with..." The  
girls cleared their throats.  
  
"This is not a wise thing to be saying," Sheila said.  
  
"Uh...heh," Tirga said, which was about when he was  
pulled over and found himself staring into the glaring  
eyes of the other werecheetah.  
  
"What was that about getting in tight with my sister?"  
Ranma asked. Tirga smirked and shifted into his tiger  
form.  
  
"Meow," he said, smirking. Ranma vanished and joined  
his sister behind Akane. "Heh, funny kid."  
  
"Oh for Pete's sake," Akane said standing up from her  
chair and walking over to Tirga.  
  
"Oh hi," Tirga said. "Rethinking my offer from  
earlier?"  
  
"Should we do anything?" Thropan asked.  
  
"She looks a little smaller than Sheila," Onoli said  
in response. "There shouldn't be much problem."   
While it was true that switching to her hybrid form  
resulted in a minor loss of mass for Akane, it was  
still obvious that the Edge Guard had not yet  
encountered the Wrath of Akane. Except for Tirga, but  
as for him.  
  
"Like I said," Sheila sighed. "Too stupid to be a  
threat."  
  
"HEY!!" Tirga snapped. He was about to protest  
further, but then Akane grabbed him. A few seconds  
later Akane was walking back to her seat and dusting  
off her hands.  
  
"Really," Akane said.  
  
"Trip to the healer's," Thropan said, looking down at  
Tirga. Ranko and Ranma were applauding her and  
quoting Dr. Tofu from a year or so ago.  
  
"See how that joint's bent backwards?" Ranma asked.  
  
"That's Akane's touch alright," Ranko finished.  
  
********  
  
The helicopter, heavily modified by a combination of  
Ace, Penny, Brianna and Gina's talents, touched down  
on the ground in Japan lightly and easily. As the  
engines shut down the passengers and crew, meaning  
Ace, immediately disembarked to be met by a tall,  
buxoum werecheetah.  
  
"MUFFIN!!!" Britanny shouted crossing the distance  
quickly to hug her husband. "It's been ages!"  
  
"It's been two days," Konatsu said. Britanny turned a  
smoky glance toward the ninja's direction.  
  
"Exactly," she said. Stripe rolled his eyes in  
amusement.  
  
"Where's Gina?" Penny asked.  
  
"She's just a little behind me," Britanny said,  
pointing back to where her sister was standing up  
after the backdraft of her the werecheetah's  
departure.  
  
Gina was dusting herself off as she approached.  
  
"Warn me next time," Gina said as she caught up, then  
looked to Lydia lying asleep on the stretcher. "What  
happened to her? She should be awake."  
  
"We had some magical interference," Penny said. "Is  
your father around?"  
  
"Nope," Gina said. "He's in Jade, not sure when he's  
coming back just yet. Is this the girl?" She pointed  
to Yuka.  
  
"Uh, hello," Yuka said, watching Brittany nervously.  
  
"Hi," Gina said. "Don't worry, as soon as my dad's  
back we'll have you back to your old self." Penny  
cleared her throat and pulled Gina to the side.  
  
"She might have it by heredity," Penny said. "Some of  
her family comes from Africa, and we think that  
necklace of hers is what caused your rat friend to  
keep sleeping."   
  
"Any reason you're giving me the rundown so quick?"  
Gina asked, she glanced to Ace and smirked. Penny's  
eye twitched.  
  
"I want to get back to my date," Penny said tightly.   
"Is there anything else you need my help for?"  
  
"Not at the moment," Gina said.  
  
"Then Ace and I are gone," Penny said. "Call me in a  
few hours for more details. Good luck, Gina."  
  
"Thanks, Penny, I'll do that," Gina waved as the other  
genius turned to head back for the helicopter.  
  
"Yo, G, stay safe," Ace called out as he helped Penny  
board the plane. ~As if any warning has ever done you  
any good before.~  
  
"You too Ace," Gina called out.  
  
********  
  
Something, a snake, loomed over a little cat girl who  
was staring dazedly ahead. They were across a wide  
field from her. The little girl seemed familiar.  
  
"Hey!" a voice shouted, and Lydia felt the scene zoom  
forward with great speed until she was seeing the  
snake up close. "Stay away from my sister."  
  
"You sssister is mine, cat," the snake hissed sliding  
back. "Already the poison runs through her veins.   
She will be filled with anger and hate and a thirst  
for blood...and be my servant."  
  
The view rocked dramatically until Lydia could see two  
small bleeding wounds on the little girl's hand. A  
furred hand, maybe fourteen years old, snatched out  
and grabbed the dazed girl's hand. Another furred  
hand covered the first, and a flash of white passed  
into the little girl's body. She felt the contact and  
the flash of power, almost as if they were her hands.  
  
"Your poison is gone, Set," the voice yelled again.   
It was somewhere close, just off camera, but Lydia  
couldn't connect it to anything. "Be gone before I  
send you away."  
  
"Godling, you cannot fight me," the angry snake  
hissed. It started to slither forward, and Lydia felt  
something like a cringing and a repressed fear as  
those two arms encircled the little girl, who was  
coming out of her trance.  
  
A steel blade sliced downward, narrowly missing the  
dodging serpant. The scene shifted up to see a  
jackal-headed man weilding a polearm with two  
semi-circular blades.  
  
"Begone, serpent of darkness," the jackal barked.  
  
"This is not over, little cat," the snake hissed as it  
fled. The jackal bent down to observe the wound on  
the girl's hand.  
  
"There is no hate," he muttered. "But rage will  
always be a part of her now."  
  
"Not always," the voice said. The scene flashed to  
darkness.  
  
********  
  
Another scene flashed into view. Cats, cats,  
everywhere. As far as she could see in the huge room.  
All lounging about or playing, or hunting, or looking  
at her. She felt herself standing up and walking, and  
the cats parted before her. A pair of lions bowed as  
she passed them.  
  
"Going out again?" a woman's voice asked. She  
recognized it as Sehkmet.  
  
"I'm not only one of the Eyes of Ra," another voice  
said. It was close, but Lydia could not see where it  
had come from. "I have other...duties..."  
  
"If you can call what you do a duty," Sehkmet  
muttered. "I'm surprised you don't try to lay me."  
  
"Now sister," that other voice said. "I am not a  
pervert. Leave that incestuous stuff to the  
Olympians."  
  
"I do," Sehkmet said tightly, controlled. "Thank  
you."  
  
"Certainly you'll find someone eventually sister," the  
voice said.  
  
"Not as long as these are still here," Sehkmet pointed  
to the wrap around her hand. "They half think I'm a  
spy for Set."  
  
"You aren't," the voice said. "And that will be  
obvious, when we have flayed the serpent alive." A  
pleased smile adorned Sehkmet's face, and the scene  
flashed back to darkness.  
  
********  
  
The scene flashed onto the aftermath of a battle.   
Sehkmet and was standing near the edge of Lydia's  
view, in full battle gear. She herself felt heavy and  
weighed down slightly, and as the view moved the sound  
of steel on steel could be heard.  
  
An open toed boot, revealling clawed toes, kicked at  
the body of a huge serpent.  
  
"He's dead, sister," the same voice said happily.   
"The damn snake is dead. We can live in peace now."   
Sehkmet was looking at her hand, momentarily  
unwrapped.  
  
"The scars aren't gone," she said. The view shifted  
and a gauntleted hand took Sehkmet's own and examined  
the two bald marks where a snake had bitten a little  
girl long ago.  
  
"That's just your body," the voice said. "The anger  
will go away if you let it." The scene flashed to  
dark.  
  
********  
  
Another scene. Only she saw it in flashes, as if  
opening her eyes only for blinks and shutting them  
again  
  
This time Lydia felt, or was it remembered, great  
pain. There was a lot of heavy breathing, and she  
could smell a number of people, cat-people surrounding  
her. The words were garbled through the pain, until  
at last it ended and she felt merely exhausted.  
  
A cloth wrapped child was soon taking up the view of  
her dream.  
  
"Ailuros," the same woman's voice declared softly  
before the scene faded to black.  
  
********  
  
Another scene, the building with the cats again. A  
little cheetah girl ran through the room, playing and  
laughing.  
  
"Ailuros is so quick," the unnamed voice said happily.  
  
********  
  
"We have to do something," Ailuros declared, she  
seemed older now and familiar somehow. "These are  
cats, mother, surely you can do something."  
  
"It is a mortal's war," the voice said reluctantly.   
"We have no reign to do anything while this wizard  
holds to mortals."  
  
"But he's using them as assassins and slaves," Ailuros  
protested.  
  
"Do you think I DON'T know that?" the voice demanded.   
"He has not yet done anything that we can use to  
interfere yet."  
  
"But..." Ailuros said. Sehkmet barged into view.  
  
"Iceron has declared himself the God of all Cats," she  
said angrily. Lydia could almost feel a small smile  
appear on the unseen speakers face.  
  
"Daughter, sister," the voice said. "Get your gear.   
We're going to war."  
  
********  
  
Another scene. It came in isolated flashes and she  
could only catch parts of it.  
  
"DIE FIENDISH MORTAL!!!" Sehkmet charging forward.  
  
"These are the deities of Egypt?" aaccompanied by a  
low, arrogant laugh.  
  
"YOU WILL FALL!!!" It was that same voice from  
before.  
  
Fear followed as the spectral image of a great serpent  
was printed against the blackness between flashes of  
battle.  
  
"Let go of my mother!" "No Ailuros! Stay back!!"  
  
"The cub seeks to defend the mother," the arrogant  
wizard said. There was a flash of black fire and  
screaming that Lydia almost felt as if it were her  
own.  
  
"Sist.....!"  
  
Then there was darkness and flashes of pain and fire  
running through her, body and soul, as something tore  
at her, and dragged her down. Seeking to devour her,  
destroy her. And then that force was shattered and  
almost released her with a roar of rage and pain.  
  
"Sehkmet," the voice said. "You did it..." And the  
scene flashed closed.  
  
********  
  
Time uncountable followed, tethered in the darkness,  
racked with pain and sorrow. This was not the  
promised afterlife, this was something else. Sehkmet  
had defeated the wizard after her fall, but she had  
apparently not killed him.  
  
Darkness and pain remained until light flashed.  
  
********  
  
Lydia snapped awake with gasp and looked around the  
room. Three werecheetahs, that's all that registered  
at first. Then she started to notice the others in  
the room.  
  
"Oh shit," she muttered. "I should have stayed with  
the #@$@#$ed up dreams."  
  
"Miss McKracken, I presume," Gina Diggers said as all  
eyes turned toward her.   
  
Someone said something in Japanese with a relieved  
tone of voice. To her surprise, a white-furred  
wererat came into the room and began serving everyone  
tea. Oddly enough, everyone seemed to come to  
attention when she entered the room, and even Lydia  
felt an odd desire to never say another single swear  
word in her life.  
  
"What's going on?" she asked.  
  
"They want us to help rescue her sister from  
Gothwrain," Moisha said, pointing to the wererat.  
  
"Eh?" Lydia repeated. Rescue a RAT from Gothwrain?  
  
********  
  
Gothwrain smiled as night fell and he prepared to  
attempt to lay the trap in the Tendo girl's mind  
again. He sat down and centered himself before  
casting the spell. The girl had some truly impressive  
natural defenses, she could have been an exceptional  
mage. Gothwrain had other ideas, however, and he had  
no intention of giving Nabiki the training she would  
find so very useful in the next few moments.  
  
He cast the spell and let it seek his target. Again  
there was that instant reaction of being forced out.   
This time, however, he was ready for the primitive  
reaction and merely pushed back harder. Nabiki's  
outer defenses caved quickly. After pushing the spell  
past Nabiki's outer defenses he pulled back letting  
the spell do its work.  
  
He took a heavy breath and glanced to the screen that  
showed Miss Tendo sleeping a little restlessly.  
  
********  
  
Nabiki gritted her teeth at the pain as she felt  
Gothwrain push his spell into her mind. She  
concentrated on keeping her cool and appearing to be  
asleep and merely the recipient of a bad dream. She  
concentrated on paying attention to what happened as  
the spell worked it's way deeper into her mind.  
  
~What are you doing to me?~ her thoughts demanded as  
she began to feel herself thinking differently.   
  
The spell was a simple one, designed to implant only a  
few impulses into her mind, unnoticed as she slept  
through what should have been a highly unpleasant  
nightmare. As the impulses began to arrise on the  
surface, she was bolstered by the fact that she was  
awake and knew there was a spell in effect. Still she  
could only identify with certainty a few of the  
imposed thought patterns.  
  
The first impulse backfired spectacularly. Nabiki  
felt herself acquire a sudden respect for and loyalty  
to Gothwrain, for all of half a second. When respect  
and loyalty flared into outraged betrayal and bitter  
hatred as she considered what the "Lord High Elder"  
was still doing to her. Still, she could put on a  
false face for her captor and put on a good show. She  
just had to make sure she didn't go overboard.  
  
The second thought she identified was equally easy to  
identify, but harder to fight. She was already a  
little afraid of the werecheetahs and their obvious  
power. She felt that fear rise to irrational levels  
quickly, and could barely keep it in check despite  
knowing it was being forced on to her. After that,  
she was too exhausted to notice anything else going on  
and fell back unconscious.  
  
********  
  
"Funny that they'd build such large air vents in this  
place," Romeo thought. "Maybe we got this base from  
someone else." He ceased his wondering as he came to  
the end of his search and looked down into the room.  
  
There she was, Nabiki Tendo. And she looked to be in  
terrible shape. That didn't make any sense whatsoever  
though. Gothwrain was here to protect rats, not hurt  
them. Maybe there was a reason for it that he didn't  
know.  
  
He rolled his eyes. Of course there was a reason he  
didn't know, but was it a good reason?  
  
"It's clan business," Romeo said, hesitating.   
  
He only had about five minutes left before he had to  
be back in his own room. Besides, there were cameras,  
he couldn't hope to get to her without being seen.   
Unless...  
  
"Maybe she's sick or something," Romeo thought. "Not  
injured. I could just check and see. If this works."  
  
  
He played with the vent blades until he could slip out  
and clinged desperately to the ceiling in a manner  
similar to what Zero had taught him. Had he been  
human or hybrid, it would have been impossible, but  
apparently, as a rat he could do a creditable  
imitation of spider-man.  
  
"Spider-man, spider man," Romeo muttered under his  
breath. "He can do whatever a spider can..."   
  
He inched along the ceiling until he reached the  
camera and then clinged to the camera for long enough  
to find the button to shut it off. That succeeded he  
dropped to the floor and shifted into hybrid and  
hurried to the bed to check on his rescuee.  
  
She was beaten severely, and with silver. He could  
smell the burns even before he saw them all across her  
back through the torn dress. There couldn't be a  
reason for this, she was just a bystander for goodness  
sakes. She was younger than he was.  
  
Feeling faint about what he had just decided, Romeo  
took his tools out of his night suit and went to the  
door. It took a minute or two, but he worked his way  
into the opening panel and wired it open eventually.   
That left him only a couple more minutes before they  
discovered he was AWOL. It was time to skedadle.  
  
He returned to the bed and gingerly picked up the girl  
he had dragged here, and left the room, closing the  
door behind them.  
  
He had to dodge patrols a few times, but more or less  
he got out of there very easily. Easily enough that  
it made him worried. Any easy accomplisment in Zero's  
training was soon followed by something incredibly  
bad, and so he worried. He was well away from the  
headquarters when Nabiki started to wake up.  
  
"Get out of my head," she muttered weakly once before  
falling back asleep.  
  
"Oh man," Romeo said. "Her family is going to kill  
me."  
  
********  
  
"The package is being delivered," his aide said.   
Gothwrain smiled darkly as he considered the veritable  
time bomb Romeo was taking with him. 


End file.
